Mumbai: With Maharashtra’s director general of police (DGP), Rashmi Shukla, set to retire on December 31, the state home department has shortlisted seven IPS officers, including National Investigation Agency (NIA) chief Sadanand Date, as potential successors.
The list will now be forwarded to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), which will select three names for final consideration. The state government will then appoint one of them as the next DGP.
According to officials aware of the developments, the seven IPS officers on the state’s shortlist are NIA chief Sadanand Date, DGP (legal and technical) Sanjay Verma, commandant general of home guards Ritesh Kumar, DGP (anti corruption bureau) Sanjeev Kumar Singhal, director general (state police housing and welfare corporation) Archana Tyagi, civil defence director Sanjeev Kumar and DG (government railway police) Prashant Burde.
Of the seven, Date is the senior-most officer and is set to retire on December 31, 2026. Having worked with various central agencies, he is widely respected for his track record—notably for battling terrorists during the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, armed with an outdated carbine. If picked, Date can get a two-year term as Maharashtra’s top cop. However, his appointment would require the Centre to relieve him from his current role as NIA chief—a request the state government has not yet made.
A notable exclusion from the shortlist is 1992-batch IPS officer Amitabh Gupta, currently on central deputation to the Indo-Tibetan Border Police. He continues to hold the rank of inspector general (IG), while some of his juniors have been promoted. Additional chief secretary (home) I S Chahal declined to comment on the matter when contacted.
Shukla, a 1988-batch IPS officer, was appointed by the Mahayuti government and given a two-year term. Over the years, she has been at the centre of several political controversies. During Devendra Fadnavis’s first tenure as chief minister from 2014 to 2019, she served as the commissioner of the state intelligence department (SID), a key position reserved for those considered close to people in the corridors of power.
However, when the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) came to power in 2019, she was transferred from the SID to civil defence, a non-executive posting. She was later deputed to the Centre, serving first as the additional director general of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and then as head of Sashastra Seema Bal, a central armed police force under the Union government.
After her exit from Maharashtra, three FIRs were registered against her in 2022 in Mumbai and Pune, based on phone-tapping allegations levelled by Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut and the NCP’s Eknath Khadse. The cases were closed after the BJP-led Mahayuti government came to power later that year. She was later appointed state police chief.