Meet the contenders for joint commissioner of police (crime) post

Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) of Mumbai crime branch is one of the sought-after vacant posts expected to be filled anytime soon.

Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) of Mumbai crime branch is one of the sought-after vacant posts expected to be filled anytime soon.

Niket Kaushik (Hindustan Times)

Sources in the Maharashtra police said the order is most likely to get delayed because of the upcoming elections to the Rajya Sabha and Vidhan Parishad, as well as the political activity surrounding revenue minister Eknath Khadse.

According to officials in the director-general of police (DGP) office, officers of batches from 1991 to 1998 are eligible, as they are of the rank of inspector-general of police (IGP).

Some prominent names doing the rounds are – Niket Kaushik, who is IGP, anti-terrorism squad (ATS), Prashant Burude, IGP, Konkan range, and Prabhat Kumar, special IGP, law and order.

Apart from these names of JtCP law and order, Deven Bharti, and JtCP, economic offences wing (EOW) Dhananjay Kamlakar, posted in the Mumbai police commissionerate, are also doing the rounds.

With chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also holds the home portfolio, known to be unpredictable and has taken bold decisions in the past such as upgrading CP Mumbai police to the rank of director general and appointing Javed Ahmed, everyone has their fingers crossed.

The city crime branch is important, as it is responsible for controlling the notorious Mumbai underworld and known for its detection skills, which have helped solve important cases.

In the past, IPS officials like D Sivanandhan, Rakesh Maria, Himanshu Roy and others during their tenures took the branch to new heights with encounters and detections.

Though there have been no major underworld activity in the past couple of years given the conviction of Arun Gawli and extradition of gangster Chhota Rajan, the crime branch’s major focus has been to neutralise the comparatively insignificant Ravi Pujari gang, which tried to raise its head in 2015.

The crime branch went into a spree of arrests and took more than 80 henchmen from Mumbai and its outskirts into custody, as part of a major crackdown on the gang.

The contenders

Niket Kaushik, IGP, ATS

Prashant Burude, IGP, Konkan range

Prabhat Kumar who is Special IGP – law and order

Deven Bharti, JCP, law and order

Dhananjay Kamlakar, JCP, economic offences wing