Mumbai police chief Phansalkar gets additional charge of Maharashtra DGP

Mumbai: Mumbai police commissioner Vivek Phansalkar was on Monday given the additional charge of Maharashtra Director General of Police by the state government, an official said, hours after incumbent DGP Rashmi Shukla was transferred on Election Commission (EC) orders.

Ahead of the November 20 Assembly polls, the EC on Monday directed the state government to transfer Shukla, the first woman DGP of Maharashtra, with immediate effect following complaints from political parties, including the opposition Congress.

The poll body directed the Maharashtra chief secretary to hand over Shukla's charge to the next senior-most IPS officer in the cadre.

Accordingly, Phansalkar, a 1989-batch IPS officer, was given the additional charge of DGP till a new state police chief was appointed, said the official.

This is the second time that Phansalkar has been assigned the additional responsibility of the state's top cop. The senior IPS officer was temporarily entrusted with the role of state police chief for 10 days - from December 31, 2023, to January 9, 2024 -- after the retirement of then-DGP Rajnish Seth.

Shukla, a 1988-batch IPS officer of the Maharashtra cadre, faced allegations of illegally tapping phones of several Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders when she was serving as chief of the State Intelligence Department (SID).

Three cases were registered in connection with alleged phone tapping and Shukla was named in two of them. However, in September 2023, the Bombay High Court quashed both the FIRs registered against her.

The third case, which was with the CBI for investigation, also did not reach at any conclusion and a closure report was submitted before the court.

In January this year, Shukla took over as the DGP of Maharashtra. Before becoming the state DGP, Shukla was on central deputation and was the Director General of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), responsible for guarding India’s borders with Nepal and Bhutan, and also served as ADG of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

She was scheduled to retire from police service in June 2024, but her tenure was extended by the Mahayuti government for two years (till January 2026). It was the first time that the state government had extended the tenure of DGP by two years.