Who is Deven Bharti, the new Mumbai police commissioner?

Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Deven Bharti is appointed as the new commissioner of Mumbai police, officials said on Wednesday. Bharti will replace Vivek Phansalkar as Mumbai's top cop on Wednesday evening.

Vivek Phansalkar retired on Wednesday after serving the force for 35 years, news agency PTI reported.

Who is Deven Bharti?

Deven Bharti is a 1994-batch IPS (Indian Police Service) officer and is currently the special commissioner of the Mumbai police.

Deven Bharti's education: Bharti hails from Darbhanga in Bihar. He completed his master's from the Delhi School of Economics. He did his matriculation in Jharkhand, Hindustan Times reported.

Deven Bharti's career: Before that, he had served the 50,000-strong police force in the metropolis in various capacities, including as joint commissioner of police (law and order), additional commissioner of police (crime), and deputy commissioner of police (crime).

In his long career, he has also headed the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS), besides serving as the inspector general of police (law and order ) in the state police headquarters.

Before being assigned to the Mumbai police, Bharti had also served on central deputation.

Deven Bharti's high-profile cases: Known for his investigative skills, Bharti has been a part of many high-profile cases, including the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack in which 166 people were killed, PTI reported.

Deven Bharti, CM's trusted official: Bharti, 56, is an officer trusted highly by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Hindustan Times reported. He had worked as joint commissioner (law and order) in the first stint of Devendra Fadnavis as the CM.

The state home department has downgraded the post of the Mumbai Police commissioner to the rank of Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), an official was quoted by PTI as saying.

For over a decade and half, the post of the Mumbai Police commissioner was occupied by an officer of the director general rank.

Bharti is an IPS officer of the additional director general rank.

Therefore, Maharashtra has downgraded the post of Mumbai Police commissioner for Bharti so that it can be taken over by an officer of ADG rank.

The coveted post of Mumbai police commissioner has traditionally been of the ADGP rank, but it had been upgraded to the DG rank in a few recent postings.

(With inputs from PTI)