Mumbai – So, the day has risen and the transfers of top cops in Maharashtra took place, finally! Yes, Navi Mumbai, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Pune, Nashik, Mira-Bhayander have got new police commissioners. Mumbai city has new Joint Commissioners and except Vinayak Deshmukh, we have new Additional Commissioners too. Thane and Nagpur remain untouched, so does Deven Bharti and so do Brijesh Singh, Prabhat Kumar, Vinit Agarwal, Bipin Kumar Singh, Mahesh Patil and Ashutosh Dumbre! And may I tell you, except a few here and there (IG Konkan) all record transfers of the top cops have a DEVENDRA FADNAVIS stamp all over! Blame it on my blogs, I think finally our HM has 95% right people at the right spot except a few! Let us find out…
I feel for Brijesh Singh. Only 1 posting I remember was when he was DG & Secretary at the DGIPR department along with Cyber and spokesperson of the Government when DF was the CM. After that, in the MVA Government he was sidelined and when someone thought that Brijesh would be ideal to lead a Pune or a Navi-Mumbai, he remained untouched. Similar to Ashutosh Dumbre; his reasons of not getting any good posting are all together different. Heard DGP Seth had some reservations for Dumbre which he spelt to the CM and DCM.
The new Pune Commissioner Ritesh Kumar was side-posted for so many years now. Finally he gets his due! Pune CP Ritesh Kumar is obviously on merit basis. He joins on the 19th after coming back from London where he is pursuing some course there. IF CM had Sanjay Saxena as his choice, DGP Rajneesh Seth had Sanjeev Singhal in his mind, HM had Brijesh Singh for the Pune CP, posting of Ritesh Kumar comes as a surprise and as a nice one!
Now coming to Amitabh Gupta. Boss, all rumours that were floating about him about so many things have finally been put to rest. If at all any one of them had any substance, he wouldn’t have been posted as Additional DGP (L & O) which is technically number 2 post. It is not a punishment posting. They say many have raised their eyebrows when they saw Amitabh’s posting, but then nothing can’t be done and yes, this CM, DCM and the DG who have the ultimate say in this posting if anything was suspicious or true, this team would have cared two hoots to give a side posting to Gupta. But it didn’t happen.
Sadanand Date gets ATS, Milind Bharambe gets Navi Mumbai, Vinoy Choubey gets Pimpri Chinchwad for which I am very happy with. Right candidates at the right place. Didn’t I say Nangre Patil will get a good posting in my previous blog? I know what he has done to DF when the latter was the CM during a sensitive time. Raj Vardhan was side-posted for obvious reasons, and I think even Niket Kaushik got a bitter deal. He could have done wonders as a Commissioner anywhere, but nonetheless he and Nangre PAtil can now share tiffins as they both will head the Anti-Corruption Department and sit on the same floor.
IGP Sanjay Mohite’s sidelining transfer was obvious.Late R R Patil’s closest associate he was the same officer who had laid Naka-Bandi when Eknath Shinde and team had planned the coup and went to Surat that evening. But Mohite failed to stop them, and thereafter he was CM Shinde’s most targeted man, they say in the corridors of power. But then he is replaced by his own batch mate Pravin Pawar. I must say, ‘Maratha’ card in the bureaucracy still works! Vinayak Deshmukh also retains Mumbai as Addl CP now East, but he was posted as Addl CP West not even a year ago right? Then why the inter-transfer?
In regard to the postings of Joint CP in Mumbai, I had told in my part 1 that the 2004 batch will surpass their seniors to grab the posts. K M M Prasanna and Dr Ravindra Shivase are left behind and Satyanarayan Choudhary takes charge of L & O thanks to the “JAT” influence similar to what was used by DCP Akhbar Pathan. Why was Padwal transferred within a year from EOW? But then he has been given traffic, Lakhmi Gautam Crime and deserving Nishit Kaushik comes to the EOW. Sad to see Manoj Sharma out of the race at the ACB though! He might go on deputation, similarly as Manjunath Singe.
Madhukar Pande as CP Mira-Bhayander-Vasai Virar comes as a welcome move, and Prashant Burde yet again remains sidelined. In the coming months, it is said Deven Bharti will become Special Commissioner Mumbai (keeping in mind the BMC elections) and Prabhat Kumar can be the next choice as Thane Police Commissioner if and only if Jay Jeet Singh thinks to go for promotion and grab the chair which Hemant Nagrale left behind after he retired.
Paramjeet Dahiya, Anil Kumbhare and Rajiv Jain become new Addl CP’s of Mumbai and Dilip Sawant gets retained too. Sanjay Darade has been kept waiting. They say Nagpur CP Amitesh Kumar will change but currently he has been assured next 4 months respite.
Overall Devendra Fadnavis stamp everywhere! I think with this team HM and DCM Fadnavis have got more fire fighters as elections are nearing. All these officers are the ones who will do anything for the state if time comes. That’s why I said the right people at the right posts! People pleasers and non-aggressive guys are left behind or kept far away. Thank God neither of these top officers this time went to Ratnagiri Mangoes and team. But then these are the top of the top. These Ratnagiri Mangoes have to wait for hours together outside the cabin of all these officers mentioned here. Way out of the league postings here for them!
Vikrant Joshi..
