Rakesh Maria appointed Mumbai's police commissioner

Senior Indian Police Service officer Rakesh Maria was appointed as Mumbai’s police commissioner on Saturday, a fortnight after Satyapal Singh quit the post to join politics.

Maria has headed many high-profile investigations, including the 1993 Mumbai blasts probe and the 26/11 attack case.

The decision to appoint Maria, currently the chief of Maharashtra Police's Anti-Terrorism squad, was taken after a high-level meeting in Mumbai chaired by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and attended by Home Minister R R Patil.

Maria, a 1981 batch IPS officer, headed the probe into the 1993 Mumbai blasts.

He was also in-charge of the investigations into the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai. His appointment comes a fortnight after Satyapal Singh quit as Mumbai police commissioner to join the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Singh, who was due to retire in 2015, was the first serving Mumbai police chief to resign.