Success follows those who chase excellence in life. This is the moral that the story of Maharashtra cadre IPS officer Sadanand Date teaches. He is heading India’s premier federal agency, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), currently, but the Maharashtra government wants him to head the state police. When he was heading the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), the Centre borrowed him from the state to head the agency that investigates crimes against India’s sovereignty and integrity—the NIA. Now Maharashtra misses him and wants him back.
Date is tipped to take over as the next state police chief from current incumbent Rashmi Shukla, who retires on Dec 31.
Interestingly, the UPSC is yet to select Date’s name as one of the three shortlisted candidates to be picked as DGP; the state government wants the Centre to relieve him and hence has sought his repatriation to the state.
It has been done in anticipation, as the Date’s name figures at the top of the list of seven IPS officers sent to the UPSC for shortlisting by the state government in November. Being the most senior officer on the list, Date’s name is sure to be included in the panel of three names to be selected by the UPSC for the appointment as the next DGP.
Besides being the senior-most officer in the list sent to the UPSC, Date has been a decorated police officer who shot to fame after taking on two of the 10 terrorists who attacked Mumbai on 26/11 in 2008. He was even awarded the President’s Police Medal for Gallantry in 2009. It was his impeccable profile as a counter-terrorism specialist that impressed the central government enough to lift him from the Maharashtra ATS to lead the country’s federal agency.
During a vast and variegated policing career spanning over 35 years, Date has earned several commendations and awards for his work, including the Mahatma Gandhi Peace and Communal Harmony award from the Minorities Commission and the Police Medal for Meritorious Services in 2007.
If picked, Date can get a two-year term as Maharashtra’s top cop, though he has only one year of service remaining.
By Dinesh Kumar
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