Meet the soft spoken Vivek Phansalkar, Mumbai’s new Police Commissioner with an illustrious career

Vivek Phansalkar was serving as the DG and MD of the Police Housing and Welfare Corporation, prior to being appointed as Mumbai Police Commissioner.

In Maharashtra, the Maha Vikas Aghadi government has fallen. But before putting down his resignation, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray took some important decisions, one being the appointment of senior IPS officer Vivek Phansalkar as the Mumbai Police Commissioner. Outgoing CP Sanjay Pandey is scheduled to retire on 30 jun’22.

Vivek Phansalkar was serving as the DG and Managing Director of the Police Housing and Welfare Corporation, prior to being appointed as the new Mumbai Police Commissioner. Phansalkar was appointed as the Police Commissioner on the basis of seniority as well as performance.

Who is Vivek Phansalkar?

A 1989-batch IPS officer, Vivek Phansalkar has previously served as the Thane Police Commissioner. He is known as a soft spoken officer in the police circles. In his illustrious police career, Phansalkar went on to serve as Additional Director General of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad as well as ADG, Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau.

Vivek Phansalkar worked in the ATS from 2015 to 2016. Prior to this, in 2014 Phansalkar was posted as Joint Commissioner of Police (Administration) and Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic). It was during his tenure as the traffic police chief in 2013 that the department first used e-challans on a pilot basis. The idea was a runaway hit and is now used for penalising traffic rules violators in Mumbai.

To Vivek Phansalkar goes the credit of tackling strongly the communal riots in Thane in 2008, while serving as the Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime). In the initial years of his career, Phansalkar served as the ADC to former Governor Dr. PC Alexander from 1993 to 1995. 

Earlier in his career, Vivek Phansalkar also served as the Deputy Commissioner of Police in Nashik, as Superintendent of Police in Parbhani and Wardha, and in the the CID (crime) branch. Vivek Phansalkar will have a long tenure as the Mumbai Police Commissioner as he is due to retire only in March 2025.

This story has not been edited by News Mania staff and is published from a syndicated feed

Photo: Internet