Special Commissioner of Police Deven Bharti took charge on Thursday and began his day by tweeting, “MumbaiPolice is a Team. Singhams don’t exist.” At 11 am, he met Commissioner of Police Vivek Phansalkar at the Mumbai Police Headquarters and then went to the office of Law and Order on the second floor of the old building to take charge as his office space hasn’t been decided yet.
Later in the day, Bharti inspected the Mumbai Police Control Room, which is housed in a six-storey building in the compound of the Mumbai Police Head Office. There are over 5,500 CCTV cameras installed in Mumbai and their output is received at the control room.
Joint Commissioners of Police to now report to Bharti
The Mumbai police have five Joint Commissioners of Police who look after law and order, crime, administration, traffic and economic offences. All of them will now report to Bharti, who is an Additional Director General rank official.
Mumbai’s first special Commissioner of Police (CP) Deven Bharti is back in the reckoning after almost three years in the side-lines as the Joint Managing Director of the Maharashtra State Security Corporation.
Maharashtra created new post to accommodate Bharti
The State Government created the new special CP post to accommodate the 54-year-old Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the 1994 batch. The post is on the lines of similar positions in Delhi, Kolkata, and Bengaluru police. It is meant to streamline the functioning of the Mumbai Police Commissionerate and assist Commissioner of Police Vivek Phansalkar.
Even though Bharti’s role hasn’t been spelt out clearly, it is learnt that the Joint Commissioners of Police will report to him and he will, in turn, report to the CP. The exact responsibilities are likely to be spelled and clarified in the next few days.
Who is Deven Bharti?
A Delhi School of Economics graduate, Bharti hails from Darbhanga, Bihar. He completed his schooling from Jharkhand. He has held several important and sensitive posts in the Mumbai Police. He first became the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP, zone 7) for Bandra and Andheri.
Other posts were DCP Crime Branch, Additional CP (Crime Branch), and subsequently Joint CP (Law and order)during the ShivSena-BJP regime of Devendra Fadnavis. He also held the important post of special Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) and was later promoted as Additional Director General of Police to head the elite Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).
