Mumbai: hours later taking charge IPS officer Deven Bharti became Mumbai’s first special police commissioner on Thursday. Tweeted, “Mumbai Police is a team. Singham doesn’t exist”.
Bharti’s tweet, though seemingly out of context, was a loaded one given the political criticism surrounding his appointment.
Leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) – which includes the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress – have been criticizing the Maharashtra government’s decision to create a special CP post, which would create an alternative power Will do Center within the Mumbai Police.
They allege that this will allow the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to exert influence over the Mumbai Police, as Bharti is seen as a “loyalist” to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
A senior NCP leader told ThePrint on Thursday, on the condition of anonymity, “The BJP has appointments to be made in the Mumbai police to be reliable senior officers.” “In the corridors of power, it is an open secret that Deven Bharti is close to Devendra Fadnavis. During our rule, Bharti did not meet the home minister of the state even once.
Deputy CM Fadnavis, who also holds the home portfolio, has defended his decision saying The particular CP post is like “adding a missing link”.
Meanwhile, some retired Mumbai police chiefs have also seen merit in the creation of the new post, saying Mumbai is a vast city where police duties often go beyond basic crime control and maintenance of law and order.
The controversy over Bharti’s appointment as Special Commissioner of Police is perhaps one of the many controversies that the 1994 batch IPS officer has faced in his 28-year-long policing career.
ThePrint reached Bharti through calls and text messages, but did not receive a response till the time of publication. The story will be updated after a response is received.
Ber posting under Fadnavis, ‘punishment’ under MVA
kept important posts – As Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order), Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) and Chief of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad – Bharti’s experience of serving in Mumbai is vast.
He was involved in the investigation of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack but also courted controversy for the same. Hasan Ghafoor, the police chief of Mumbai at the time of the attack, during an interview Week the magazine had designated Four officers, including Bharti, for hesitating to respond to the situation despite being on the ground during the attack.
Bharti had several Mumbai postings between 2014 and 2019 when Fadnavis was CM and held the Home Ministry.
“In the Mumbai Police, there have been two clear lobbies among senior IPS officers – one of native Maharashtrian officers and the other of non-Maharashtrians, or specifically North Indian officers. The NCP, which held the home ministry for most of the last two decades, and especially its chief Sharad Pawar, were close to the Maharashtrian lobby,” political commentator Hemant Desai told ThePrint.
“As the BJP grew in prominence and came to power in Maharashtra, the influence of its central leadership in Maharashtra also grew and the party came closer to the north Indian lobby and officials like Deven Bharti,” he said.
Bharti was appointed Joint CP (Law and Order) in April 2015 and eventually created a record as the longest serving officer in the post. he was at the end Transfer In 2019, the Election Commission (EC) directed the Fadnavis-led Maharashtra government to do so.
After the Election Commission asked the Maharashtra government to transfer all officers who have completed three years in their posts, the state asked the commission to appoint Bharti to the Lok Sabha that year, citing her “experience and track record”. requested to be allowed to continue till the conclusion of the election. However, the Election Commission rejected this request. Bharti was then appointed joint CP in-charge of the Economic Offenses Wing.
In the same year, the Fadnavis-led government Appointed Bharti has been made the chief of Maharashtra ATS. However, the IPS officer fell out of favor after the change in regime after November 2019.
In 2020, the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government transferred Bharti to the Maharashtra State Security Corporation – which is seen in administrative circles as a “punishment” posting. This was also the time when Bharti’s name came up in many controversies.
‘BJP’s general thinking of divide and rule’
In 2020, former Mumbai police officer Rakesh Maria retired in his autobiography alleged that Bharti was on a “first-name basis” with television executives Indrani and Peter Mukerjea, who allegedly murdered Indrani’s daughter Sheena Bora. This matter came to light in 2015. Maria claimed that Bharti knew about Bora’s disappearance, but did not inform Maria about it. Bharti rejected the allegation.
Then in 2021, the Mumbai Police FIR against Bharti, who was then Additional Director General of Police, for cheating, forgery and under penal provisions of the Indian Passport Act. Bharti is said to have allegedly pressurized a police officer not to proceed further in a passport forgery case against the wife of a BJP leader.
Bharti got clean chit Notably in October last year, the Maharashtra government changed with the BJP coming to power in June with the Balasahebchi Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
A senior Congress leader, on condition of anonymity, said, “Deven Bharti has clearly been a favorite of Fadnavis.” “Mumbai Police Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar is a straightforward officer who has good relations with everyone. But, having Deven Bharti as Special CP will help Fadnavis drive his agenda and help the Deputy CM in any balance of power with the CM.
Priyanka Chaturvedi, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and Rajya Sabha MP, Tweeted Saying the dual power structure within the Mumbai Police is a “typical divide and rule idea of the BJP”.
He wrote, ‘It is a matter of shame that they are playing a dangerous game of favoritism with the law and order system of Mumbai.’
Speaking to reporters in Pune on Thursday, Fadnavis dismissed criticism against the Special CP post, saying it is an Additional Director General (ADG) level post, while the Mumbai Police Commissioner is a Director General (DG) level post. Upgrading the post of Mumbai Police Commissioner to DG level was another major change that Fadnavis accomplished in 2015 when he was chief minister and home minister.
he Told, “In the hierarchy, there was one ADG post missing in Mumbai Police. When we upgraded the post of Mumbai CP to DG level considering the expansion of Mumbai, due to some reason we could not create ADG level post. That’s why we just made it. Though the post is called Special CP, it is under the jurisdiction of Mumbai CP.
‘Chain of command not broken’
Retired senior IPS officers and former Mumbai Police chiefs say the post of Special CP, reporting to the Mumbai CP, works in principle, as it has in Delhi for nearly a decade. But a clash between personalities can make it difficult.
“The chain of command is not broken. The ultimate boss is the CP,” retired Maharashtra DGP MN Singh told ThePrint.
“People are suspicious of this move as they feel that Deven Bharti is very close to Fadnavis so he has been brought in to shape the CP. I think this is far fetched. He may be close to Devendra Fadnavis, I don’t know, but even if he is, I don’t think the CP will have any problem in controlling the police force.
Speaking to ThePrint, retired officer D. Sivanandan, who is also a former DGP of Maharashtra, said the Mumbai police force is one of 50,000 to 60,000 personnel for nearly 20 million people and its duties are vast – maintaining law and order keeping, crime prevention and detection, managing VIP movement, traffic and so on.
“Special CP may be given separate clear cut tasks where he/she can take charge and report to the CP. This will help in reducing the heavy responsibility of the CP,” said Sivanandan.
“However, the downside is that there are two swords in one sheath. Whoever is more vocal and closer to the administration will be in a position to grab power. It can either be a joint family, or total chaos, ” They said.
(Editing by Anumeha Saxena)
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