New Delhi: Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Deven Bharti, who led the probe into the 26/11 attacks, has been appointed as the commissioner of Mumbai Police. A 1994 batch IPS officer from Bihar, Bharti has been serving as the Mumbai Police special commissioner since 2023 – a post that was created by the Mahayuti government amid opposition criticism.
Bharti served at several important postings in Mumbai. He was one of the longest-serving joint commissioners of police (law & order) of Mumbai. He also served as the additional commissioner of police (crime branch), and headed the Maharashtra State Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS).
As joint commissioner of police under the then-Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP-Shiv Sena government, Bharti oversaw the functioning of the over 90 stations in Mumbai. He was then counted among the most powerful police officers in Maharashtra. However, under the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA regime, Bharti was sidelined and put in charge of the Maharashtra State Security Corporation (MSSC).
A senior Maharashtra police official had last year said Bharti knew the city and its underworld well. “He has a superb network in the underworld,” he said. However, his tenure has also been marred by alleged underworld links. Former Mumbai Police commissioner Sanjay Pandey, in an inquiry report, alleged that Bharti had connections with criminals linked to gangster Dawood Ibrahim.
However, the report was rejected by the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government after it came to power in 2022 following the fall of the MVA. Bharti found himself in another controversy after an FIR was filed against him for not registering a case against BJP leader Hyder Azam’s wife for allegedly producing fake documents for her passport. This also happened during the MVA regime.