Return of the Commissioner

Mumbai’s new top cop returns with political backing, a checkered past, and a vision for the future.

Deven Bharti’s elevation as Commissioner of Police in Mumbai marks the return of a familiar, controversial and politically well-networked officer to the summit of Maharashtra’s policing hierarchy. A 1994-batch officer of the Indian Police Service (IPS), the 56-year-old Bharti’s appointment follows the retirement of Vivek Phansalkar, a low-key officer known more for his institutional steadiness than flair.

In contrast, Bharti is a figure whose career has long been entangled with high-stakes investigations, public controversies and persistent whispers of political patronage. His most powerful backer, according to many in Maharashtra’s political circles, has been Maharashtra Chief Minister and Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis. That Bharti rose through the ranks during Fadnavis’s previous tenure as Chief Minister (2014–19) was widely noted, if not always explicitly stated.

There’s an unwritten saying in Mumbai’s bureaucratic circles that the police commissioner is less a cop than a courtier. Few officers in Maharashtra have embodied this and occupied the public imagination as persistently as Bharti, who did his master’s at the Delhi School of Economics.

He has spent most of his career toggling between high-stakes crime postings and politically volatile appointments.

He was Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) for over four years, making him the longest-serving officer in that post in Mumbai’s recent history. He went on to lead the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), held key postings in the Crime Branch, and served as Inspector General (Law and Order) at the state level. More unusually, in 2023, a new post of ‘Special Commissioner of Police’ was created seemingly to accommodate his return to Mumbai’s policing core - an indication of his continuing institutional clout.

Yet Bharti’s rise has not been without turbulence. He was among four senior officers named by Hasan Gafoor, Mumbai’s Police Commissioner during the 26/11 terror attacks, for allegedly hesitating during the operation. For a man who prefers to control the narrative, it was a rare public bruise for Bharti.

While never formally indicted, the mention nonetheless left a mark. In 2020, Rakesh Maria, another former Commissioner, alleged in his memoir that Bharti had prior knowledge of the Sheena Bora disappearance case and failed to escalate it - a charge Bharti firmly denied.

Other accusations have followed. In 2021, a First Information Report (FIR) was filed against him for allegedly helping suppress a passport fraud case involving the wife of a BJP politician. The charges included cheating, forgery, and violations under the Indian Passport Act. When the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition took power, Bharti was transferred to the Maharashtra State Security Corporation, widely seen as a ‘cold storage’ for politically inconvenient officers.

The tide turned again in October 2022, when the Mahayuti coalition returned to power after toppling Thackeray’s government, and Fadnavis resumed charge of the Home portfolio. Bharti was cleared of all charges by the Mumbai Crime Branch, paving the way for his rehabilitation and eventual ascent to the commissioner’s chair.

In his first press briefing as commissioner, Bharti struck a technocratic tone. His priorities, he said, include bridging the gap between the police and the citizen, tackling cybercrime and integrating artificial intelligence into predictive policing.

What distinguishes Bharti is not just his resume, but the durability of his proximity to power. In a state where postings are frequently reshuffled based on political convenience, Bharti’s repeated returns to plum positions reflect not only administrative competence but also political trust. His close relationship with Fadnavis has not gone unnoticed. In 2019, when the Election Commission ordered the removal of all officials who had served more than three years in one posting, the then BJP-led state government requested an exception for Bharti.

Supporters describe him as decisive and experienced. Critics see in his career a case study in the thin line between professional merit and political favour. Yet there is little doubt that his return to the helm of the Mumbai Police signals a recalibration of both strategy and symbolism. The city’s law and order machinery has had a reputation to defend amid rising cyber threats, communal tensions, and violent crime in outer districts.

It remains to be seen whether Bharti’s second act as commissioner will enhance the credibility of the Mumbai Police or deepen perceptions of politicisation. For now, it is clear that the city’s most powerful uniform is back on the shoulders of a man who has worn it, lost it and reclaimed it with remarkable timing.