The 1987-batch IPS officer, who has been holding the charge of state Director General of Police since January, on Wednesday replaced Parambir Singh, who was transferred as DGP Home Guards after the Waze controversy(Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty) TAKING CHARGE of Mumbai Police amid a crisis, new Commissioner of Police Hemant Nagrale has said he will work to “restore the glory and pride” of the force.
The 1987-batch IPS officer, who has been holding the charge of state Director General of Police since January, on Wednesday replaced Parambir Singh, who was transferred as DGP Home Guards after the Waze controversy.
” Mumbai Police is in turmoil. However, we will regain the glory and pride of Mumbai Police. People of Mumbai and Maharashtra will be proud of Mumbai Police once again,” Nagrale said, while assuming the charge of the 50,000-strong police force, whose image has been hit with the arrest of former police officer Sachin Waze in the Ambani security scare case.
“In the last few days, we have seen the involvement of policemen in crimes. NIA (National Investigation Agency) and ATS (Anti-Terrorism Squad) are probing the matter and proper action will be taken against whoever is found involved,” he said.
Nagpur-based, Nagrale has also served in the city earlier as additional commissioner, joint commissioner and, briefly in 2014, as Mumbai police commissioner.
According to convention, an outgoing commissioner hands over charge to the new commissioner, but after his unceremonious transfer, Singh preferred to leave the police headquarters without any formal goodbye and well before Nagrale arrived to take over.
Interacting with the media, Nagrale, who was asked what steps he would take to prevent a case similar to Waze’s, said: “I would ask all officers to perform their duty as per law. All seniors should keep supervision on junior officers as it is their responsibility.”
While Rajneesh Seth has now been given the charge of state DGP in addition to his post as DG Anti-Corruption Bureau, Nagrale has moved to the most powerful post available to a Maharashtra cadre IPS officer. The Mumbai police commissioner is more powerful than the state DGP and reports directly to the home department.
While he was not the most obvious choice to replace Singh, The Indian Express has learnt that with Shiv Sena and NCP in a tussle over the choice of occupant of this all-important post, he appeared as more of a “compromise”. Sources said the decision to remove Singh was taken on Monday, but it took two days more for the MVA government to agree on his replacement.
Nagrale, an engineer by education, has previously served as Navi Mumbai police commissioner. He also played a role in moving the injured to hospitals for treatment during the 26/11 terror attacks in 2008. In October 2018, he was elevated to DG rank, and was given the responsibility of looking after forensic science laboratories across the state as DG (legal and technical).
Nagrale started out in the Naxal-infested Chandrapur district in 1989. As superintendent of police, CID, crime (1996-1998), he investigated the MPSC paper leak case and Anjanabai Gavit kidnapping and murder case in which the accused received capital punishment.
During his deputation with Central Bureau of Investigation, Nagrale supervised and investigated the Harshad Mehta and Ketan Parekh scams. Nagrale also assisted the special investigation team that probed the Telgi stamp paper scam. He is an avid golfer and tennis player, and a black belt in judo.