MUMBAI, 17 June 2007 — In a major reshuffle of 53 top Indian Police Service (IPS) state officers carried out by the Maharashtra government, Rakesh Maria, the man who is credited with cracking the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case and who had carried out a raid at film actor Sanjay Dutt’s residence at Malabar Hill and arrested him for his involvement in the blasts case, was appointed to the top post of Mumbai’s joint police commissioner (crime), replacing Meera Borwankar who was transferred to Pune as special inspector general of police, state criminal investigation department. In the reshuffle, carried out statewide, 12 additional directors general of police were shifted. The reshuffle also affected 18 special inspectors general of police (SIGP) and 23 deputy inspectors general of police (DIGP).
For Maria, it was a just reward of his patience after he was unceremoniously removed from the post of additional commissioner of police, Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) in 2003, his ATS disbanded and Maria sent packing with promotion as inspector general of police, training and special units.
K.L. Prasad, special inspector general of police, state intelligence department was posted as Mumbai’s joint commissioner of police (law and order) replacing Arup Patnaik who has been promoted and posted as additional director general of police, state traffic control, Mumbai.
Hassan Ghafour who has returned from Air-India deputation and was awaiting a posting, was appointed as additional director general of police, Anti Corruption Bureau, while Ahmed Javed, inspector general of police, State Reserve Police Force, was promoted as additional director general of police and retained in the same department. Vijay Kamble was posted as Mumbai traffic chief replacing Satish Mathur, who was transferred and posted as inspector general of police, state prisons. Dhananjay Kamlakar, another high profile cop of the crime branch of Mumbai was promoted as additional commissioner of police and transferred to Pune.
S.A. Khopde, commissioner railway police, Mumbai, was transferred as additional commissioner of police (north) Mumbai, while Mrs. Archana Tyagi, superintendent of police, Thane Rural, was promoted as additional commissioner (west) Mumbai. Ravindra Sengaonkar, deputy commissioner of police, Thane, returns to Pune in the same capacity.
Rajendra Sonawane, special inspector general of police, State Criminal Investigation Department, was posted as joint commissioner of police, Pune replacing Prabhat Ranjan, who is transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department. Pratap Digavkar, another high profile officer and deputy commissioner of police, Zone II, has been transferred as superintendent of police, Raigad.
Shamshuddin M. Sayed, joint commissioner of police, Nagpur has been transferred as commissioner of police, Nashik City. Dr. K. Ramchandran, chief security and vigilance officer, MSEB, has been transferred as special inspector general of police, SRPF. Pankaj Gupta, head of Anti-Naxalite Operation (ANO) Cell in Nagpur was elevated to the post of additional director general of ANO and retained at Nagpur.
S.W. Savarkar, inspector general of police, state prisons, Pune, has been transferred as Special Inspector General of Police, Nagpur Range, replacing Ashok Dhiware, who is posted as Special Inspector General of Kolhapur Range. MK Karve, Deputy Inspector General of Police, state prisons, Pune, as been transferred as Additional Commissioner of Police, Nagpur. KK Pathak, Special Inspector General of Police, Kolhapur Range, has been transferred in the same capacity to Konkan Region were he would replace Dr. Satpal Singh. K. Subrahmanium , Additional Director General of Police, who refused posting to Nagpur was posted as Principal Secretary in the State Home Department.
Dr. Satpal Singh, Inspector General of Police, Konkan Range, has been promoted to the rank of Additional Director General of Police and posted as Commissioner of Police, Nagpur. Singh will replace SPS Yadav, who has been transferred as Additional Director General of Police, State Criminal Investigation Department, Pune.
Two additional posts of Additional Commissioners of Police have been created for Nagpur . Nagpur Deputy Commissioner of Police Prabhat Kumar as been promoted as Additional Commissioner (Region) while MK Karve on transfer from Pune, would be the Additional Commissioner (Administration).
The reshuffle would also see crime-weary city of Pune get two more Additional Commissioners of Police. With a view to decentralizing the over-burdened city police Commissionerate, Pune will get these two additional officers. This means the city will have seven new police stations and a new zone in addition to the already existing three zones. The move comes in the wake of the crime graph skyrocketing in the recent past. The number of police stations will increase to 28 from the present 21. Thus Pune will now be the only city outside Mumbai to have more than three zones. Rajendra Singh, the present Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Pune will be joined by Dhananjay Kamlakar from Mumbai and Mrs. Shobha Ohatkar, from the State Criminal Investigation Department, Pune, both who are promoted and posted to Pune.
Surprisingly, the government had made a mockery of its own transfer laws, by transferring a majority of the top cops, who swap posts in the same districts where they have been serving for several years in a row. “Money power, corruption, and political interference are the root cause of these gross violations of the law. The whole system is corrupt and rotten,” said a police officer.
The law, “Maharashtra Government Servants Regulation of Transfers and Prevention of Delay in Discharge of Official Duties Act, 2005,” as the nomenclature proclaims also regulates transfers of all government employees, mandating that a person normally not be transferred, apart from exceptional circumstances, unless having completed the standard tenure of three years in a position and a district.
