Deven Bharti who played key role in 26/11 investigation is Mumbai CP

The 56-year-old will be the first additional director-general in a decade to head the city’s police force

Mumbai: Deven Bharti, 56, a 1994-batch IPS officer, known for his investigative skills, took charge as the new commissioner of Mumbai police on Thursday.

Mumbai: Newly appointed Police Commissioner Deven Bharti at his office at the Mumbai Police headquarters, in Mumbai, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (PTI Photo) (PTI04_30_2025_000384A) (PTI)

Bharti, who will retire in 2028, succeeds Vivek Phansalkar. He will be the first additional director-general in a decade to head the city’s police force. Usually, the commissioner’s position is occupied by a DG-rank officer. From January 2023 though, Bharti has been serving as special CP, a lateral position especially created for him by then home minister Devendra Fadnavis.

The officer, originally from Darbhanga, studied at the Delhi School of Economics before joining the IPS. In his long stint in the city, he has come to know well the innards of Mumbai. He has served variously as joint commissioner, law and order, headed the state’s Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) and he was part of the Mumbai Crime branch that probed an array of high-profile and sensitive cases including the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, the cases against Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives, the Sheena Bora murder case, the killing of Chhota Rajan operative Farid Tanasha and the sensational murder of journalist J Dey.

However, when the Maha Vikas Aghadi government came to power in 2019, Bharti fell afoul of the political dispensation and he was posted as head of Maharashtra State Security Corporation (MSSC), widely considered to be an inconsequential post. He also faced a slew of allegations made by former police commissioner Sanjay Pandey about allegedly favouring the criminal Vijay Palande. In November last year, the Shiv Sena-BJP government however rejected Pandey’s report, paving the way for Bharti’s rise to the top position in Mumbai police.

Former commissioners of police Hassan Gafoor who held charge during 26/11 and Rakesh Maria who was ousted as CP by Fadnavis for his investigation into the Sheena Bora murder case, had, in the past, expressed reservations about certain aspects of Bharti’s style of functioning, but he remains widely respected as one of the most astute investigators. “Deven Bharti has an excellent network of informants and sources across the city. He especially knows the working of the financial city and he pretty much had a run of Mumbai when he was joint CP, law and order,” said a senior officer, speaking on the condition that he not be quoted.

He had a key role to play during the 26/11 terror investigations which have come to the fore again with the extradition of Tahawwur Rana. On that night of the attack Bharti was posted at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Colaba where the terrorist had kept several people hostage. “Later he was part of a three-member team that travelled to the US and coordinated with the FBI to make the case against the Pakistani nationals involved in the 26/11 terror attack. India had sought the US agencies’ help in sharing proof like details of calls made through VoIP and from the satellite phones besides getting documents related to Global Positioning System used by the terrorists when they set sail from Karachi to Mumbai,” said the police officer quoted above.

Bharti along with his then boss Rakesh Maria also played a key role in busting the terror group Indian Mujahideen (IM) which had orchestrated a series of blasts across the country and which, until then, had been a shadowy entity to the extent that even central agencies like the Intelligence Bureau and the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) did not have much idea about them.

“He has played an important role in making the Mumbai Police control room tech savvy. He installed patrolling vehicles with new age technology that greatly helped in controlling street crimes,” said another police officer who has worked with Bharti.