Rakesh Maria takes charge as Mumbai police commissioner

Senior IPS officer Rakesh Maria, who was heading the Maharashtra ATS, on Sunday took charge as Mumbai Police Commissioner and stressed on adopting zero tolerance towards street crimes while describing urban terrorism and organised crime as challenges before the force.

Maria, a 1981 batch high-profile IPS officer known for having cracked the 1993 Mumbai serial bombings case, the 2003 Gateway and Zaveri Bazar blasts case and for probing the 26/11 terror attacks of 2008, will head the department for at least two years. He is also considered one of the officers who helped crack down on the Mumbai underworld.

"A boy from Bandra has become IPS officer and now Mumai Police Commissioner. Many IPS bigwigs took the charge of Commissioner's Post. Every IPS officer dreams of becoming the Mumbai Police Commissioner. It's like a dream coming true," the top police official said.

Observing that the force has been facing many problems, the city police chief said, "Urban terrorism, organised crime, security of women, elders and children are the major challenges before us."

"But one thing we are going to stress on is zero tolerance to street crimes," the Additional Director General rank officer told mediapersons.

"I as a Commissioner of Police would be discussing at length the various strategies to counter these problems that I have just mentioned. We are going to go into the basics of policing to control crime and criminals in the metropolis," said Maria, who was selected for the post by the government on Saturday.

"Our aim would be to give the city a service oriented, public friendly police force which feels the problems of the people and works towards solving the issues. We are going to give you a transparent and public friendly force," the 57-year-old officer said.

Meanwhile, the government has transferred and promoted 86 top ranking police officials.

Maharashtra Additional DG (highways) Vijay Kamble has now been appointed as Thane police commissioner, state Intelligence Commissioner K L Prasad is the Navi Mumbai police chief, Additional DG (law and order) Ahmed Javed has been promoted as director general of Home Guards, and Thane Police Commissioner K P Raghuvanshi has been promoted as DG Maharashtra state security council.

Mumbai Police Joint Commissioner (crime) Himanshu Roy, who has been replaced by Joint Commissioner (law and order) Sadanand Date, has been appointed as Maharashtra ATS chief.

Dhananjay Kamlakar will now be the joint CP (law and order), Mumbai.

Additional Commissioner of Police (west) Vishwas Nagre-Patil has been transferred to state Anti Corruption Bureau. Hemant Nagrale, who was in-charge of the Mumbai police after Satyapal Singh's resignation, has been promoted as additional DG (planning and co-ordination).