Maharashtra Police (IAST: Mahārāṣṭra Polīs Sēvā, formerly Bombay State Police) is the law enforcement agency responsible for the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is headed by Director General of Police, Sadanand Date (IPS), and headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
It is one of the largest police departments in the country, having about 36 district police units in the state. The Maharashtra Police Department has a strength of nearly 1.95 lakh. It also has 15,000 women in its force.
History During the 17th century (until 1655), the area of present-day Mumbai was under Portuguese control. The Portuguese formed a basic law enforcement structure in this area with the establishment of a Police outpost in 1661.Mumbai Police – History at the Mumbai Police Website
The origins of the present day Mumbai police can be traced back to a militia organized by Gerald Aungier, the then Governor of Bombay in 1669. This Bhandari Militia was composed of around 500 men and was headquartered at Mahim, Sevree and Sion. In 1672, the judicial overview of police decisions by courts was introduced, although none of the judges had any actual legal training.Edwardes (1923), p 19 The situation remained unchanged through the Maratha wars.Mumbai Police Force History on TIFR website. However, by 1682, policing remained stagnant. There was only one ensign for the whole Bhandari militia, and there were only three sergeants and two corporals.
In 1936, the Sind Province Police was split from the Bombay Province Police. In 1947, it was renamed to Bombay State Police, following India's independence. After the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, the Bombay State Police was divided into Gujarat Police, Mysore Police (later renamed Karnataka Police) and Maharashtra Police.
The Maharashtra Police Headquarters moved into what was known as the Royal Alfred Sailors' Home, in 1896. Construction began on the building in early 1872 and was finished four years later, in 1876. As its name suggests, it was made to accommodate 20 officers and 100 seamen. However, the building was actually conceived to commemorate the visit of the Duke of Edinburgh in 1870. The Duke laid the Foundation stone during his visit.
The Maharashtra government acquired the building in 1928 to house the Bombay Legislative Council. The Police Department subsequently moved in after it was vacated.
Headquarters
The Maharashtra Police Headquarters is in a Grade I listed its heritage building that was built between 1872 and 1876 and designed by Frederick William Stevens (who designed the Victoria Terminus). During the British Raj, it served as the Royal Alfred Sailors' Home, named after Prince Alfred, the second son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, who visited Bombay in 1870. The building was used to house sick European sailors. After 1928, it served as the Legislative Assembly and then the Bombay Council Hall until 1982, when the Maharashtra Police moved into the building.
List of Former Director General of Police Source: Kaikhusru Jahangir Nanavati - 01.05.1960 - 24.02.1965 Sayyad Majidulla - 25.02.1965 - 19.01.1968 Anant Ganesh Rajadhyaksha - 20.01.1968 - 28.02.1975 Maharudra Ganpatrao Wagh - 01.03.1975 - 31.05.1976 Immanuel Sumitra Modak - 01.06.1976 - 31.03.1978 Madhukar Ganpat Mugve - 01.04.1978 - 31.05.1978 Shridhar Vyankatesh Tankhiwala - 01.06.1978 - 31.07.1978 Vinayak Vasudev Chaubal - 01.08.1978 - 31.10.1979 Vasant Vinayak Nagarkar - 01.11.1979 - 18.03.1980 Ramdas Laxman Bhinge - 19.03.1980 - 23.02.1981 Sushilkumar Chaturvedi - 24.02.1981 - 24.02.1982 Krushnakant Pandurang Medhekar - 25.02.1982 - 30.04.1985 Suryakant Shankar Jog - 01.05.1985 - 31.07.1987 Dattatraya Shankar Soman - 01.08.1987 - 31.05.1988 Satyandra Prasanna Singh - 01.06.1988 - 31.01.1989 Ramakant Sheshgirirao Kulkarni - 01.02.1989 - 31.12.1989 Vasant Keshav Saraf - 01.01.1990 - 31.08.1992 S. Ramamurti - 01.09.1992 - 30.06.1993 Shivajirao Vitthalrao Baravkar - 01.07.1993 - 31.10.1994 S. V. Krushnan - 01.11.1994 - 31.10.1995 Surendra Mohan Pathaniya - 01.11.1995 - 31.05.1996 Amarjit Singh Samara - 01.06.1996 - 30.09.1997 Arvind Siddheswar Inamdar - 01.10.1997 - 05.01.2000 Subhash Chandra Malhotra - 06.01.2000 - 30.06.2003 Om Prakash Bali - 01.07.2003 - 31.10.2003 Surendra Mohan Shangari - 01.11.2003 - 31.08.2004 Kamal Krishna Kashyap - 01.09.2004 - 30.04.2005 Dr. P. S. Pasricha - 01.05.2005 - 29.02.2008 Anami Naraayan Roy - 01.03.2008 - 07.02.2009 S. S. Virak - 14.03.2009 - 31.10.2009 Anami Narayan Roy - 22.01.2010 - 31.05.2010 D. Sivanandhan - 31.05.2010 - 28.02.2011 Ajit Parasnis - 28.02.2011 - 30.09.2011 K. Subramanyam - 30.09.2011 - 31.07.2012 Sanjeev Dayal - 31.07.2012 - 30.09.2015 Praveen Dixit - 30.09.2015 - 31.07.2016 Satish Mathur - 01.08.2016 - 30.06.2018 Dr. D. D. Padsalgikar - 01.07.2018 - 28.02.2019 S. K. Jayaswal - 01.03.2019 - 07.01.2021 Hemant Nagrale - 07.01.2021 - 17.03.2021 Rajneesh Seth - 18.03.2021 - 10.04.2021 Sanjay Pande - 10.04.2021 - 18.02.2022 Rajneesh Seth - 18.02.2022 - 31.12.2023 Vivek Pansalkar - 31.12.2023 - 09.01.2024 Rashmi Shukla - 09.01.2024 - 05.11.2024 Sanjay Verma- 05.11.2024 - 25.11.2024 Rashmi Shukla - 25.11.2024- 02.01.2026 Sadanand Date - 03.01.2026-Incumbent
Hierarchy
Officers Director general of police (DGP) Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Inspector general of police (IGP) Deputy inspector general of police Commissioner of police of (CP) Senior superintendent of police (SSP)/Additional commissioner of police metro City (ACP) Superintendent of police (SP)/Deputy commissioner of police metro City (DCP) Additional Superintendent of Police (Addl.SP) Assistant Superintendent/ Deputy Superintendent of Police (ASP/DySP)
Subordinates Source: Police Inspector (PI) Assistant Police Inspector (API) Police Sub-Inspector (PSI) Assistant Sub Inspector of Police (ASI) Head constable (HC) Police Naik (PN) Police Constable (PC)
Insignia of Maharashtra Police (State Police)
Gazetted Officers
Non-gazetted officers + Subordinate officers rank insignia Insignia No insignia Rank Police Inspector Assistant police inspector Sub-inspector Assistant sub-inspector Head constable Senior Constable Police constable Abbreviation PI API PSI ASI HC PN PC
Special units
State Intelligence Department The State Intelligence Department (SID) came into existence in 1905 as the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and was renamed to its current name in 1981. It is headed by the Commissioner of Intelligence.
Maharashtra State Criminal Investigation Department Maharashtra State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is a Crime Branch which was established in 1905 and is headquartered in Pune. It is headed by the Additional Director General of Police.
Anti-Terrorism Squad The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) unit was created by the Government of Maharashtra in 2004 for countering terrorism. It works in coordination with Central Agencies such as Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
Maharashtra Cyber Department The Maharashtra Cyber Department, also known as Maharashtra Cyber, is the cybercrime investigation and digital security division of the Maharashtra Police. It was established by the Government of Maharashtra in 2016 to address the growing threat of cybercrime in the state. The department is responsible for preventing, detecting, and investigating cybercrimes across Maharashtra and undertakes digital forensics, cyber intelligence, and public awareness initiatives related to online safety.
Quick Response Team The Quick Response Team (QRT) was created to protect the coasts of Maharashtra. Since Mumbai is vulnerable to attacks from terrorists and underworld elements, there was a need for a highly trained, motivated, young, fit and fully equipped team to tackle such groups and to terminate hostage situations. This team responds in the shortest time, moves by fastest means, takes action to collect tactical information, and neutralizes the threat. They rescue hostages and render assistance to central forces and other state forces on government duty. On the occasion of the 30th Maharashtra Road Safety Week, Maharashtra police launched the "Cop for a Day" Program; this new initiative allows any citizen to be a part of the Maharashtra Police Force for one day and be associated with different departments within the Maharashtra police
Anti-Corruption Bureau Anti Corruption Bureau, Maharashtra is an agency of Government of Maharashtra constituted to investigate offences of bribery and corruption falling within the purview of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 in the state of Maharashtra.
Force One Force One is an elite counter-terrorism unit of the Maharashtra Police. It guards the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, which is one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world. It was formed by Government of Maharashtra on the lines of National Security Guard (NSG) as a response to the 2008 Mumbai attacks and was commissioned two days before its first anniversary.
A list of the Indian Police Service (IPS) and State Police Service (SPS) officers of Force One is given below:
+ List of the IPS and SPS officers of Force One S. No Name Designation 1 Dr. Sukhvinder Singh, IPS (1994:MH) Additional Director General of Police, Force One, Maharashtra State, Mumbai 2 Sh. Kirankumar Chavan, SPS S.P, Force One, Maharashtra State, Mumbai 3 Sh. Sandeep R. Doiphode, SPS S.P, Force One, Urban Counter Training Academy, Maharashtra State, Mumbai 4 Sh. Amarsingh Jadhav, SPS Addl. S.P., Force One, Urban Counter Training Academy, Maharashtra State, Mumbai
Highway Traffic Police The Highway Traffic Police branch was created in 1993 to monitor operations on Indian roads and highways.
State Reserve Police Force The State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) was created on 6 March 1948 as a Special Armed Police Force of the State of Maharashtra.
It is a part of the Maharashtra Police and Maintenance of Law & Order,Anti-Naxal Operations in Gadchiroli, Security of Vital Installations,Feeding Training Units,Forest Guarding,Disaster Management, Other state election Dutys. The head of the SRPF is an officer of Additional Director General (ADG) rank. In Maharashtra, there are 20 SRPF units located in different districts. The first SRPF unit was Group 1, Pune, and the newly formed Group 20 is located at Varangaon, Bhusawal, in Jalgaon district. Every unit is commanded by an officer called the Commandant, who is a senior IPS officer or a Maharashtra Police Service officer. The units also have two or three DySP-rank officers called Assistant Commandants. There are 8 or more companies in all units. Each company is controlled by a Police Inspector-rank officer. Every company has a strength of 98–120 jawans, and each company is divided into 4 platoons. The platoons are controlled by PSI- or ASI-rank officers. The following are the SRPF groups in Maharashtra: Group 1 – Pune Group 2 – Pune Group 3 – Jalna Group 4 – Nagpur Group 5 – Daund, Pune Group 6 – Dhule Group 7 – Daund, Pune Group 8 – Goregaon, Mumbai Group 9 – Amravati Group 10 – Solapur Group 11 – Navi Mumbai Group 12 – Hingoli Group 13 – Gadchiroli Group 14 – Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Group 15 – Gondia Group 16 – Kolhapur Group 17 – Chandrapur Group 18 – Katol, Nagpur Group 19 – Kusadgaon, Ahilyanagar Group 20 – Varangaon, Jalgaon
Other Departments Training Directorate Protection of Civil Rights Cell Motor Transport Unit: This was established in 1948 to cater to the needs of mobility of Maharashtra Police. State Police Wireless: Established before 1947 State Disaster Response Force (SDRF): established in 19/05/2016 the main role of the SDRF is to carry out rescue and relief operations during natural and man-made disasters. There are two units of SDRF located in Dhule and Nagpur District.
List of Police Commissionerate There are total 12 Police Commissionerate in Maharashtra Police Department, i.e.
1. Greater Mumbai Police