Under flak for ‘mishandling’ of the Sachin Vaze case and the Bomb scare outside Mukesh Ambani’s house, the Maharashtra government on Wednesday shunted out Param Bir Singh from his post of Commissioner of Police.
Senior IPS officer Hemant Nagrale, holding additional charge of Maharashtra Director General of Police (DGP), will be the new Mumbai Police Commissioner and replace Singh, who has been posted to the state Home Guard, state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said.
Deshmukh, who met Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray earlier in the day, made the announcement on Twitter amid speculation in media over Singh’s handling of the Sachin Vaze episode.
सरकारचा मोठा निर्णय
श्री हेमंत नगराळे होणार नवे मुंबई पोलीस आयुक्त
श्री रजनीश शेठ यांच्या कडे पोलीस महासंचालक महाराष्ट्र राज्य या पदाचा अतिरिक्त कार्यभार
श्री संजय पांडे यांच्या कडे महाराष्ट्र राज्य सुरक्षा महामंडळाची जवाबदारी
श्री परमवीर सिंह यांच्या कडे गृह रक्षक दलाची जवाबदारी— ANIL DESHMUKH (@AnilDeshmukhNCP) March 17, 2021
Vaze is at the focus of a probe by the National Investigating Agency in a case related to the recovery of an SUV with explosives near Ambani’s house in Mumbai.
Vaze, arrested in the case on March 13 for his alleged role in the crime, was attached to the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) of the city police’s crime branch till recently.
Who is Hemant Nagrale?
Nagrale, a 1987-batch IPS officer, was serving as the Director-General of Police of Maharashtra. Nagrale was given additional charge of DGP besides DG-Technical and Legal.
Before being appointed as DG-Technical and Legal, Nagrale served as Police Commissioner of Navi Mumbai from May 2016 to July 2018. The top cop has also served in various capacities in the state departments and Mumbai Police.
He was the joint commissioner of police-administration in Mumbai Police. Nagrale also held an additional charge as Commissioner of Police-Mumbai for a brief period in 2014. He was special inspector general-administration in the Director-General office and special inspector general at Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL).
Nagrale also served as SP and DIG in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for over 4 years from March 1998 to September 2002. Among some of the high-profile cases that he handled there were the Ketan Parekh Scam of Rs 130 crore, the Harshad Mehta scam involving Rs 400 crore, and the Madhaopura Cooperative Bank Scam of Rs 1,800 crore. The IPS officer is also hailed for his actions during the Mumbai terror attack in 2008.
