The state home department has appointed 1989-batch IPS officer Vivek Phansalkar as the new commissioner of the Mumbai police as Sanjay Pandey is scheduled to retire today. Phansalkar had earlier held important posts such as chief of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and ADG Anti Corruption Bureau during Devendra Fadanvis’s tenure as chief minister of Maharashtra.

The officer is currently posted as MD of the Maharashtra Police Housing and Welfare Corporation. He was the commissioner of Thane police when Mansukh Hiran was allegedly  killed by API Sachin Waze and former encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma in March 2021. Phansalkar played an important role in ensuring that evidence was not destroyed after Hiran’s body was discovered in a creek in the jurisdiction of Thane police.