Jaiswal becomes top Mumbai cop, Padsalgikar takes charge as Maha DGP

Jaiswal had earlier served in the Mumbai Police and also in the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad.

Mumbai: Senior IPS officer Subodh Kumar Jaiswal today took charge as the new police commissioner of Mumbai. Datta Padsalgikar, whom Jaiswal replaced as the top city cop, took over as the Director General of Police, Maharashtra from Satish Mahtur who retired today. Jaiswal (55), a 1985-batch IPS officer, was deputed to the Centre as additional secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, and was serving in the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW). The state government had recently written to him, asking whether he was interested in returning to Maharashtra. Jaiswal had earlier served in the Mumbai Police and also in the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad. He was the chief of the Special Investigation Team which probed the multi-crore fake stamp paper scam and had unearthed the nexus between some top police officials and the scam accused. While serving as a deputy inspector general (DIG) of the ATS, Jaiswal probed the September 2006 Malegaon blast case. He could have a brief tenure as the Mumbai police commissioner if he is promoted as the next DGP in the event of Padsalgikar's retirement on August 31. Jaiswal is the second-most senior IPS officer after Padsalgikar in the state. However, Padsalgikar can get a longer tenure, as a recent Supreme Court judgement laid down that once appointed, a DGP should have a fixed tenure of two years notwithstanding his or her date of superannuation. IPS officer Sanjay Barve (1987 batch) was said to be another contender for the post of the Mumbai police commissioner. Barve, recently promoted as director general, is at present the managing director of the Maharashtra State Security Corporation and is also holding the charge of state intelligence department.