Deven Bharti, an IPS officer of the 1994 batch, has been appointed as the police commissioner of Mumbai. The current police commissioner, Vivek Phansalkar, retired on Wednesday.
Bharti was a special commissioner of the Mumbai police. Bharti will be promoted to the director general rank in August. He is scheduled to retire in 2028.
Bharti, 56, is reported to be confidante of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. He had worked as joint commissioner (law and order) in the first stint of Devendra Fadnavis as CM.
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.
Maharashtra has downgraded the post of Mumbai Police commissioner for Bharti so that it can be taken over by an officer of ADG rank.
Who is Deven Bharti?
Bharti hails from Bihar's Darbhanga and has done a master's from the Delhi School of Economics. He did his matriculation in Jharkhand.
He worked in Mumbai as DCP in Zone 7 and also as the DCP in Crime Branch. He worked as additional commissioner of crime branch and was the joint commissioner (law and order) when the BJP ruled the state.
He was also the inspector general of police (law and order) in the state and also headed the ATS.

The BuckStopper, run by a group of seasoned journalists, holds the powerful accountable. The buck stops with them, as they cannot shrug off their official responsibilities.