Mumbai gets new Police Commissioner

Senior 1989 batch IPS officer Vivek Phansalkar was on Wednesday evening appointed the new Mumbai Police Commissioner. He will replace Sanjay Pandey who retires on June 30. Phansalkar was the managing director of the Maharashtra Police State Housing Corporation from May 2021.

Phansalkar has earlier served the Mumbai police as joint commissioner (traffic). He currently holds the director-general rank. Phansalkar’s appointment comes at a time when Maharashtra is witness to a brewing political crisis with a group of Sena MLAs led by Thane MLA Eknath Shinde raising a revolt against the party continuing to be a part of the ruling Maha-Vikas Aghadi.

The senior IPS officer has earlier been the Thane police commissioner as well till 2021 and handled the lockdown and COVID situation in the region. In his tenure, the outgoing police commissioner made headlines for being an unexpected pick of the MVA government. Known as a no-nonsense officer, Pandey tried to implement a makeover of the Mumbai police force through several measures, including tackling abandoned roadside vehicles and turning some city roads into Sunday Streets for a fixed duration on weekends.