Breaking: Deven Bharti appointed as new Mumbai Police commissioner

Bharti will take charge of Mumbai police commissioner at 4pm today. (Deven Bharti. File pic)

Deven Bharti has been appointed as the new Mumbai Police Commissioner, taking over the role as Vivek Phansalkar is set to retire today after serving the force for 35 years. Bharti, an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, previously held the position of Special Commissioner of Mumbai Police starting in January 2023.

The post of Mumbai Police Commissioner, originally intended for the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) rank, has now been restored to its original level. While the post had been upgraded to the Director General (DG) rank in recent years, with officers such as Dattatray Padsalgikar, Subodh Jaiswal, and Param Bir Singh taking charge at this level, the state home department has issued an order downgrading the position back to the ADGP rank. An official confirmed that Bharti will assume the role at this level, marking a return to the previous structure.

Rakesh Maria was the last officer to serve as Mumbai Police Commissioner at the ADGP rank in 2014 before the post was upgraded. Since then, several senior officers have taken the helm, including Sanjay Barve, Hemant Nagrale, and Sanjay Pandey, who held the DG rank during their tenures.

Today marks the last day of Vivek Phansalkar as Mumbai Police Commissioner, and Bharti will take charge of Mumbai police commissioner at 4pm today. Phansalkar is retiring on Wednesday after serving the police force for 35 years.

A 1994-batch IPS (Indian Police Service) officer, Bharti is currently the special commissioner of the Mumbai police.

Before that, he had served the 50,000-strong police force in the metropolis in various capacities, including as joint commissioner of police (law and order), additional commissioner of police (crime), and deputy commissioner of police (crime).

In his long career, he has also headed the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS), besides serving as the inspector general of police (law and order ) in the state police headquarters.

Before being assigned to the Mumbai police, Bharti had also served on central deputation.

Known for his investigative skills, Bharti has been a part of many high-profile cases, including the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack in which 166 people were killed.