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Major reshuffle expected in Maharashtra Police leadership

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The State Home Department in Maharashtra is gearing up for a significant overhaul of its top police leadership, including the position of Director General of Police (DGP) and Police Commissioners of Nagpur and Thane. The impending retirement of the current DGP, Rajnish Seth, on December 31 has prompted the department to commence the process of selecting his successor.A top rank official said that several prominent names have emerged as contenders for the esteemed position of State DGP. The frontrunner is Senior IPS Officer Rashmi Shukla, who currently serves as the Director General (DG) of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB). Mumbai Police Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar is also a strong candidate for the role. Other notable contenders include Thane CP Jaijeet Singh, DG ATS Sadanand Date, DG Police Housing Sandeep Bishnoi, DG Railway Pradnya Sarvade, Additional Director of NIA Atulchandra Kulkarni, and DG State Security Corporation Bipin Kumar Singh, he said. He further stated that the State Home ...
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Police empowered to take on gutkha lobby in State

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Aiming to curtail the sale-purchase of gutkha and flavoured tobbaco, the State police were directed to independently register criminal offences against those involved in sale and purchase of these banned items. Maharashtra Government had imposed ban on sale of tobacco flavoured items in year 2012 and till now Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) alone was empowered to act against the culprits.
But in view of rising use of these chewables among youth, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar directed Maharashtra police to independently register offences. Police are also directed to ensure implementation of ban on sale of flavoured supari, Kharra, Mawa and pan masala that are harmful for health.
Despite prohibition by State Government on manufacture, sale and purchase of gutkha and flavoured tobacco, the gutkha ‘lobby’ has managed to ‘push’ their products in the State without any break for last eight years. Now, State Government has come with new policy for  stricter implementation of existing ban by directing police to register non-bailable offences. 
Milind Bharambe, Special Inspector General of Police (Law & Order) Maharashtra Police, has issued a circular to all police units on July 16 informing them about the new directives. The circular stated that a special meeting was conducted under the Chairmanship Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on July 5, wherein police were directed to initiate action against gutkha sellers and smugglers under Sections 188, 272, 273 and 328 of Indian Penal Code.
A top rank police official informed ‘The Hitavada’ that the directives would enable free hand to the police to initiate action against sale and purchase of gutkha and flavoured tobacco in the State. Earlier, the police had to request officials of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to lodge a complaint for registering offence against the smugglers. As FDA is hampered by lack of adequate staff, they were unable to curb the menace on their own. The police has vast network of its own and informers in each locality. Once police start initiating action, the menace can be curbed to a large extent, feel the officers.
From year 2012 to year 2018, Maharashtra has seized gutkha worth Rs 171 crore and the State has filed 3,727 FIRs, More than 4500 such cases are still pending in the court. 
Maharashtra’s tobacco ban is in place since 2012 but it's implementation was hampered due to pressure from powerful gutkha lobby and smuggling from neighbouring States was rampant. Maharashtra imposes a jail term of six months on sale of tobacco, while selling it is a bailable offence under the existing laws. The punishment was raised to three years in prison, and the offence made non-bailable from August 2018 onwards.

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