MUMBAI: Maharashtra Anti Corruption Bureau chief and senior IPS officer Param Bir Singh was on Saturday (February 29, 2020) appointed as the next Mumbai Police Commissioner. He succeeded Sanjay Barve who retired today
Speculations about Singh started after Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh announced that incumbent Sanjay Barve will not get a third extension. Deshmukh made the brief announcement to the media on Friday evening. However, the minister did not indicate the name of the next city police chief then.
Barve, an IPS officer of 1987 batch was appointed to the coveted post on February 28 last year. Later, he was given two extensions of three-months each by the then Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
However, the Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress` Maha Vikas Aghadi government, which took over in November, was not inclined to grant a third extension to Barve.
Several names of senior IPS officers were doing the rounds for the top post of the 156-year-old Mumbai Police Commissionerate but Singh was finally chosen for the coveted job.
Param Bir Singh, a 1988 batch IPS officer, was appointed Director General of the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau in March, 2019. Prior to that, Singh was posted as Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) in the state police.
As ADG (Law and Order), Singh had made headlines when he, along with Pune Police, held a press conference on August 31 last year on the arrest of activists with alleged Maoists links.
Singh has held important posts like that of Thane Police Commissioner, DCP in several important zones in Mumbai, and also Superintendent of Police in districts like Chandrapur and Bhandara.
