Finally after long time, former ACB and ATS chief Sanjay Barve appointed as new city police boss
After the former Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria was promoted Additional DG (Home Guard) in 2015 due to Sheena Bora murder case controversy, the newly-appointed 1987 batch IPS officer Sanjay Barve was among the frontrunners in the race, however, the government had appointed Ahmed Javed and Barve missed the seat.
Amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday appointed Sanjay Barve as the new Mumbai Police Commissioner. He replaces Subodh Kumar Jaiswal who was promoted from Commissioner to Direction General of Police (DG) Maharashtra state.
After takingcharge, the newly-appointed CP formally interacted with the media in his packed cabin, where he said his focus would be on safety of ''Mumbaikars'' even as he will keep a close tab on cyber crime and financial fraud cases in the Economic Offense Wing (EOW). Barve said that preventing criminal activities in the city would be his primary motive as he subsequently asked citizens to remain alert.
He said, ''I want to assure Mumbaikars that they are safe and the city is safe and will remain safe, Mumbai Police force is for the safety and security of city's residents, and maintaining law and order and protecting children, women and senior citizens is also our priority. I want to appeal to the police and city residents to remain alert and vigilant. If there is anything suspicious, people should inform the police. The city police will make all efforts to curb rising cyber-crime and economic offences.”
Former DG Datta Padsalgikar retired in February and it was expected that S K Jaiswal would be picked, since then Parambir Singh and other IPS officers were in the race. However, CM chose Barve among all others.