Who is Deven Bharti, appointed as special police commissioner of Mumbai?

Mumbai got its first special commissioner of police, on the lines of Delhi, with the appointment of 1994 batch IPS officer Deven Bharti. The state government, after a series of discussions, made the announcement on Wednesday. Sources said Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is also the home minister, pushed for the post. The order stated that all joint commissioners of police in the city will report to the additional director general-rank special commissioner, who, in turn, would report to the Mumbai Police chief.

Bharti had his first posting as an additional superintendent of police in Naxal-affected Gadchiroli. He has also served as superintendent of police in Gadchiroli as well as other districts including Amravati and Akola. From 1998 to 2003, he was posted with the Intelligence Bureau on deputation.

The 1994 batch IPS officer got his first posting in Mumbai as deputy commissioner of police, special branch (II) in 2003. Later he served as DCP (detection) of Mumbai police's crime branch - which is one of the important posts in the crime branch. Top posts in Mumbai

Since then, Bharti has been posted in Mumbai and has served the city for a majority of his 29-year service so far. All state governments have given him top posts and it is said that he knows the law and order scenario of the city really well.

Also Read: Deven Bharti appointed as Special Commissioner of Mumbai Police

After DCP (detection), he was appointed as additional commissioner of crime. After getting promoted as inspector general, Bharti was appointed as joint commissioner of police (law and order) and his 4-year tenure between 2015 and 2019 was one of the longest.

During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he was transferred to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) as a joint commissioner for a few months. After this, he served as the Maharashtra police's Anti-Terrorism Squad chief. When Maha Vikas Aghadi came to power in the state in 2019, he was posted as the managing director of Maharashtra State Security Corporation.

Bharti has investigated several high-profile cases including the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, murder of mid-day's Senior Crime Editor J Dey. He was also one of the officers whom the state government trusted to execute capital punishment to 26/11 terrorist Ajmal Kasab.

He is also known for breaking the backbone of the terror outfit Indian Mujahideen in the state.

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No. of years Bharti has been serving as an IPS officer