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Sanjay Pandey, the former acting director general of police of Maharashtra, has been appointed as the new Mumbai police commissioner, replacing the incumbent Hemant Nagrale.
An official order said Nagrale will take over as managing director of the Maharashtra State Security Corporation.
This is the third time in less than a year that the Mumbai police is witnessing a change of guard. Then city police chief Param Bir Singh was shunted out in March 2021 after Mumbai police officer Sachin Waze was arrested in the Antilia explosives case and was replaced by Nagrale.
It is also one of the rare occasions that an officer who oversaw the functioning of the entire state police has been asked to head the Mumbai police. Usually, officers first become Mumbai police chief, considered to be a very prestigious posting.
Pandey, a 1986 batch IPS officer, was appointed as the acting DGP of Maharashtra in April last year. Never given full charge, he was replaced by Rajnish Seth, a 1988 batch IPS officer, earlier this month, after the Bombay high court rapped the state government.
Following the reshuffle, Pandey had said in a social media post that the system worked to "undo some of the injustice" done to his career record in the past and he was leaving the post with a "clear conscience".
"In these 10 plus months, I have had a chance to contribute to making some important long-term policy changes ranging from conditions of work for policewomen to stepping up dignity for the men and women in the police force who have kept our state running on the ground.
"I have faced many a hurdle and attempt to undermine my work in the past, and indeed won recognition for a job sincerely done. One is used to being a recipient of bouquets and brickbats, all with the same equanimity. The only irony in the present juncture is that in recent times, the system did work to undo some of the injustice done to my career record in the past," he had said.