During his tenure as commissioner many leaders from the BJP, like Kirit Somaiya, Mohit Kamboj, and former CM Narayan Rane were booked by the police. Pandey retired from service on June 30, 2022.
Former Mumbai police commissioner Sanjay Pandey is all set to join the Congress today at the party’s office in Mumbai.
Sources in the Congress speaking to HW News English said that Pandey will be fielded from the Versova assembly constituency. In 2019, Congress candidate Baldev Khosa lost the seat to BJP MLA Bharati Lavekar by 5,186 votes.
Sources further claimed that 21 candidates of the Grand Old Party had expressed their desire to fight from the seat.
History of Mr Sanjay Pandey
Pandey is a retired 1986-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer. After primary education in Mumbai, Pandey graduated from IIT-Kanpur (1979 – 1983) where he completed his Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science.
Later, he interned at Crompton Greaves, Mumbai as a programming intern. Pandey joined the police force in 1986 as Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and was elevated to the position of Superintendent of Police (SP) in 1990.
He was posted as Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Zone 8, in Mumbai’s Dharavi when he handled the post-1992 riots. Sanjay Pandey played a pivotal role in setting up a statewide inter-connected network of computers for crime and criminal data sharing leading to the speedy investigation process.
Pandey was also sent to Central Deputation, where he was attached to the PM’s security unit. Frustrated by political interventions in investigations and postings, Sanjay Pandey resigned from the service in April 2000 and started working for a private firm. In 2011, he returned in force. In 2017, he was promoted to a DGP (Director General of Police) rank officer, mainly in non-high profile departments like Home Guards and cyber security.Pandey had spearheaded a team of investigators to probe cases of consumer fraud.
The best for Mr Pandey came in April 2021, when the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government appointed him DGP of Maharashtra.
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In April 2022, Sanjay Pandey was appointed Mumbai Police Commissioner by the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government. During his tenure as commissioner many leaders from the BJP, like Kirit Somaiya, Mohit Kamboj, and former CM Narayan Rane were booked by the police.Pandey retired from service on June 30, 2022.
Post Retirement
Generally, civil servants live a peaceful life after retirement, but for Mr Pandey, the most difficult days started after his retirement. The ED arrested Pandey on July 19, 2022. In September 2022, the CBI did, too, in an alleged illegal phone tap of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) staffers case.
Mr Pandey got bail in May 2023 after the Supreme Court dismissed a plea filed by the ED against a December 2022 bail order the Delhi High Court granted to him.
In October 2023, there were talks of Pandey joining Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena. However, the talks could not be concluded later.
In July 2023, Pandey announced that his party, Rashtriya Janhit Party, would fight on 10 seats and that he would fight from the Versova assembly constituency.
Congress leader Sachin Sawant on X said: “Today, former Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey will enter the party under the leadership of Mumbai Congress president @VarshaEGaikwad at the office of Mumbai Congress Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan at 4 pm.”
“An honest official like Sanjay Pandey as well as a North Indian face joining the Congress will help the party grow in Mumbai.”
आज मुंबईचे माजी पोलीस आयुक्त संजय पांडे हे मुंबई काँग्रेसच्या राजीव गांधी भवन या कार्यालयात सायंकाळी ४ वाजता मुंबई काँग्रेस अध्यक्षा @VarshaEGaikwad यांच्या नेतृत्वाखाली पक्षप्रवेश करणार आहेत. संजय पांडे यांच्या सारखा प्रामाणिक अधिकारी तसेच उत्तर भारतीय चेहऱ्याच्या काँग्रेस…
— Sachin Sawant सचिन सावंत (@sachin_inc) September 19, 2024
Major Exits From Mumbai Congress
Milind Deora: Once considered close to Rahul Gandhi and a second-generation Congressi, Deora quit the party, citing that the party should not have allied with ideologically opposite Shiv Sena. Currently, Deora is Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena’s Rajya Sabha MP.
Sanjay Nirupam: Sanjay Nirupam was expelled from the party in April 2024 after he raised questions against alliance partner UBT candidate Amol Kirtikar, claiming that he was involved in the alleged khichdi scam that the ED is probing. Nirupam later joined Shinde’s Shiv Sena.
Baba Siddiqui: Known for his iftar party and connections in Bollywood, Baba Siddiqui, in February 2024, quit the party after 48 years and joined the Ajit Pawar led-NCP claiming that he was being sidelined.
Zeeshan Siddiqui: First-time MLA from the Bandra East seat, Zeeshan was sacked from the post of Mumbai Youth Congress chief after his father joined the NCP, post which Zeeshan’s bonhomie with Ajit Pawar was visible, and eventually he was expelled from the party.
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