It's good to be back, says Mumbai's new top cop Dattatray Padsalgikar

Additional director Intelligence Bureau IB Dattatray D Padsalgikar 58 is the new commissioner of Mumbai Police The state government on Saturday announced Padsalgikarrsquos appointment Ahmad Javed after his short service as the present CP retires on January 31 and has been posted as the new ambassador to Saudi ArabiaAdditional director Dattatray Padsalgikar centre gets felicitated as new commisioner of Mumbai PoliceJaved was appointed as commissioner on September 8 2015 replacing Rakesh Maria after questions were raised over the latters role in the Sheena Bora murder case investigation The state government however dismissed that suggestionPadsalgikar a 1982batch MaharashtraCadre IPS officer is the 40th police commissioner of Mumbai Talking to SUNDAY midday the forcersquos new chief said ldquoI am happy to become Commissioner of Police Mumbai It is good to be back to Mumbairdquo The senior officer who is known to keep a low profile maintained his reaction in brief and said ldquoI will speak about my priorities and plans after officially taking the chargerdquoJaved tweets goodbye lsquoI thank Mumbaikars for their cooperation and good wishes Do continue to cooperate with Police to keep the city safe Keep tweetingrsquo This is what Commissioner of Mumbai Police tweeted to his followers as he retired from the post yesterday He is seen jumping out of a police jeep at Naigaon Police Ground yesterday PicAtul KamblePadsalgikar has done two long stints with the Intelligence Bureau IB for more than a decade After the state government finalised his name with consent from the Center the senior officer returned to the state police cadre in midJanuaryControversyfreeMany senior officers in the state police believe that Padsalgikarrsquos appointment will be the best thing for the state government as he is not only one of the seniormost officers in the state but also has a noncontroversial imageFormer IPS officer YP Singh who was from the 1985 IPS batch but took early retirement said that the blamegame which goes on between the Center and the state agencies after any terror incident should now stop and the level of confidence and coordination between the two agencies shall definitely improve ldquoConsidering his knowledge and experience in state and central agencies I think he can contribute a lot to the Mumbai police in terms of maintaining law and order and combating terrorismrdquo said SinghRank shiftsThe post of commissioner was upgraded to the DGP rank with the appointment of Ahmad Javed With Padsalgikar an ADG rank officer being made the new CP the commissionerrsquos post is now downgraded from the DGP rank Additional Chief secretary home KP Bakshi said ldquoThe post of Commissioner of Police Mumbai stands downgraded to the rank of Additional Director General of PolicerdquoAhmad Javed was given a farewell on Saturday morning at Naigaon police ground by the city police forceHe is soon likely to take charge of his new responsibility as the Indian envoy in Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia has already cleared his appointment and the post is presently vacantJaved will hand over the charge of Mumbai police commissioner to Padsalgikar on Sunday afternoon at the commissionerrsquos office Crawford market Padsalgikar will retire from service in August 2018