Election Commission appoints Sanjay Verma as Maharashtra’s new police chief | Mumbai news

Mumbai: The Election Commission has appointed Sanjay Verma, Maharashtra’s Director General (legal and technical), as the state’s new Director General of Police (DGP) following the removal of Rashmi Shukla. Government orders formalising the appointment are expected shortly.

Verma, an IPS officer from the 1990 batch, succeeds Shukla, who belongs to the 1988 batch and was removed after multiple complaints. The state government initially chose to place her on leave rather than remove her outright. Shukla’s tenure has been marked by controversy, including three FIRs related to the telephone tapping of various politicians.

The decision came after sustained pressure from the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar). Maharashtra Chief Secretary Sujata Saunik had submitted a panel of three IPS officers to the Election Commission, comprising Mumbai Police Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar, Sanjay Verma, and Ritesh Kumar.

State Congress chief Nana Patole had recently alleged that Shukla had ordered fresh telephone tapping. Her previous role as commissioner of the State Intelligence Department had drawn criticism, leading to her subsequent deputation to the centre as Director General of Sashastra Seema Bal.

Last week, both Patole and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut raised fresh accusations of telephone tapping against Shukla. NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar noted the unprecedented nature of opposition parties uniting in their accusations against a police officer.

Sources revealed that during a recent law and order review, Election Commission Chief Commissioner Rajiv Kumar expressed concerns over politically motivated crimes in Maharashtra. Kumar had directed Shukla to implement strict measures against such crimes, which he said undermined the electoral atmosphere and disrupted the level playing field.

This is not the first such intervention by the Election Commission in Maharashtra. In 2009, then-DGP A N Roy was asked to step aside during the election period, with IPS officer S Chakravarthi appointed as DGP for the duration due to controversies surrounding Roy.