Deven Bharti, a 1994-batch IPS officer, has been appointed as the new Police Commissioner of Mumbai following the retirement of Vivek Phansalkar on April 30. After Phansalkar's retirement, several names were considered for the post, including Sadanand Date, Sanjay Kumar Verma, Ritesh Kumar, and senior woman officer Archana Tyagi. Phansalkar had taken charge as Mumbai Police Commissioner on June 30, 2022.
Deven Bharti has held several key positions in the Mumbai Police, including Joint Commissioner of Police overseeing all police stations in the city, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch), and Chief of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS). He has been involved in the investigation of several high-profile cases, including the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
Though the state home department has confirmed Bharti’s appointment, the post has been downgraded to the rank of Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), an official said. While the Mumbai Police Commissioner’s role is typically of ADGP rank, it had been temporarily upgraded to Director General (DG) level for some past appointments. Bharti, a 1994-batch IPS officer, currently serves as Mumbai’s Special Commissioner.
He was considered one of the most powerful IPS officers in Mumbai during Devendra Fadnavis’s tenure as Chief Minister between 2014 and 2019, when he held the position of Joint Commissioner (Law and Order). Following his promotion to Additional Director General, Bharti was posted as chief of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).