The rank and file of the Mumbai Police is looking forward to serving under Additional Director General of Police Dattatray Padsalgikar, who was on Saturday officially declared to be the next Mumbai Police Commissioner. Mr Padsalgikar will be taking over from current police chief Ahmad Javed on Sunday afternoon.
Mr Padsalgikar’s appointment comes at a time when several alleged members of the Islamic State have been picked up from across the country, including Mumbai and nearby Thane. Mumbai recently saw the arrest of a Mazgaon resident by the National Investigation Agency and reports of a Malwani youth joining an IS module in Kabul.
Mr Padsalgikar has served two stints with the Intelligence Bureau (IB), during which time he has also worked in Mumbai for several years.
“The fact that he knows the city well and that he has worked here in an Intelligence posting will be a huge boost to anti-terror measures in the city,” said a senior officer. “We are hoping for a stronger anti-terror and intelligence mechanism under his leadership.”
Another officer said that the second factor which will work in the favour of the city police under his tenure is that he has worked under the Central government for 17 years, making extensive contacts and garnering a lot of goodwill in the process.
“There are several proposals and requests that require central government approval, which are stuck at various stages due to bureaucracy. For example, numerous requests for extradition of accused wanted in Mumbai, who we know are staying abroad, have been pending for years. With someone who has worked in a Central government posting for close to two decades at the helm, we can hope for speedier responses,” the officer said.
Maharashtra Director General of Police Praveen Dixit told The Hindu , “I congratulate Mr Padsalgikar on his return to Maharashtra. He brings with him rich experience from Government of India and abroad. The State and Mumbai would immensely benefit from his vast acumen in national security. I wish him best in the new, challenging assignment.”
A 1982 batch IPS officer hailing from a town on the Solapur-Bijapur border, Mr Padsalgikar has a Masters degree in French literature from Pune. After serving initial postings as Additional Superintendent of Police in Nagpur, Karad and Nashik, he was promoted and went on to serve as Superintendent of Police in Osmanabad and Satara, following which he served his first stint in the IB in the early 90s.
The top cop served in a variety of postings, including Joint Director, IB-Mumbai, and a three-year deputation to Washington, United States. Officers who have served with him say he unfailingly puts his subordinates before himself, giving all the credit for work done to the people who have actually done it at ground level. Mr Padsalgikar also enjoys a reputation of being a clean, non-controversial officer who has neither asked for a particular posting nor has ever refused one.
He is also known to be an excellent badminton player and an athlete.
