BHUBANESWAR : Former Police Commissioner of Mumbai Arup Patnaik joined the Biju Janata Dal in the presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday. Interestingly, the development makes Patnaik the second Mumbai police chief to join politics after Satyapal Singh, who had quit as Mumbai top cop in 2014, to contest the Lok Sabha election on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket.
Asked if he will contest the 2019 elections, Arup said he has not given a thought to it yet. “I am happy that I have got an opportunity to work for my State after serving for 36 years in Maharashtra. It is the beginning of a new chapter in my life,” he added.
Known as the “bar busting cop”, Patnaik is a 1979-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer retired as the Director General of Maharashtra State Police Housing and Welfare Corporation on September 30,2015.
Patnaik was appointed Mumbai police chief in 2011. During his tenure bar busting mission was started by the Mumbai police. He was removed as Mumbai police commissioner in August 2012 after facing flak for his handling of the Azad Maidan riots in the same month. He was succeeded by Satyapal Singh.
Before being appointed as Mumbai top cop, Patnaik held the post of Additional DG (Highway Traffic). It has been learnt that Patnaik was first posted in Latur. After that he was transferred to Jalgaon and Nagpur. He was then appointed as the Zone 6 Deputy Commissioner of Police. Patnaik, however, is also credited with checking crime in Latur as the district SP during 1983-86.
