Sanjeev Dayal, who was posted as the additional director general of police (search operations), took over from Sivanandhan as Mumbai police commissioner.
It was a Monday of major changes for the state’s police force, which saw a reshuffle in its hierarchy. With director general of police (DGP) AN Roy retiring from the force, city police commissioner D Sivanandhan was elevated as the state’s top cop.
Sanjeev Dayal, who was posted as the additional director general of police (search operations), took over from Sivanandhan as Mumbai police commissioner.
According to sources, several permutations and combinations were considered before making the appointments. Sivanandhan, a 1976 batch IPS officer, superseded two senior IPS officers — DG (anti-corruption bureau) Hasan Gafoor, a 1974 batch officer, and DG (housing) PP Srivastava from the 1975 batch.
Sivanandhan, who been the commissioner of police at Thane and Nagpur, came into the limelight during his stint as chief of Mumbai’s crime branch in 2000.
He was credited with unnerving the Mumbai underworld, which was a big menace then. Sivanandhan was heading the intelligence department of the state police before he took over as the city’s police chief.
On the other hand, Arup Patnaik, presently posted as additional DGP (state highway traffic department), was believed to be the front runner for the Mumbai police chief’s post.
Pune police commissioner Satyapal Singh, too, was in the race, but he lost out because of the controversy involving minister of state for home Ramesh Bagwe. The top post finally went to Dayal, a 1977 batch IPS officer, who is known for his no-nonsense approach in the department.
According to sources, chief minister Ashok Chavan was in favour of Dayal as the city police chief. Chavan had worked closely with Dayal when he was posted in Nanded, which is the chief minister’s home constituency. Also, Dayal was an acceptable candidate to the Congress as well as the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) because of his non-corrupt and clean image.
Dayal, who previously served in Nashik and has been the superintendent of police in Nanded, Latur and Amravati, has had three stints in city before the current one.
Between 1982 and 1986, he served as zonal deputy commissioner of police (DCP) at different locations in the city. From 1993-95, Dayal was the additional commissioner of police for west region and he has also served as joint commissioner of police (administration) for 15 months between 2002 and 2003.
Dayal has also been the director of Maharashtra police academy for two years and has served in the intelligence bureau from 1988-1992. He was a member of the special protection group from 1995 to 2002.
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