New Delhi: Former Mumbai Police Commissioner and Maharashtra Director General of Police (DGP) Dattatray Padsalgikar from the Indian Police Service of 1982 batch was appointed as Deputy National Security Advisor (NSA) on October 29.

He was in the Intelligence Bureau before he was picked by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis as the Mumbai Police Commissioner in 2016.

During his tenure as Mumbai Police Commissioner from 2016 to 2018, Padsalgikar started the eight-hour shift for policemen, a legacy that continues to this day. In 2017, he replaced the police constables’ Gandhi topi with the modern visor cap. It was due to these reasons that he became popular with the lower brass of the Mumbai police.

It was also during his tenure that the Crime Branch, after a chase of over one year, had tracked down Sajjad Mogul, who was wanted in the rape and murder case of the daughter of a bureaucrat, and fled while out on furlough.

Padsalgikar, who had also served as DCP (zone 1) in Mumbai, is well versed in French and is a history buff. Soon after his retirement in February this year, he was appointed Deputy Lokayukta, a post that he was currently holding.