The Police Commissioners of Mumbai...

Late Mumbai Police Commissioner Hasan Gafoor

Last week a suave, mild, soften spoken,a gentleman and a police officer died of heart attack . He was only 62. His name was Hasan Gafoor.During the course of my duty, I had a chance to interact with him on many occasions  while I was serving the Public Broadcaster and he  the Public in Mumbai. May his soul rest in peace. 

Logo of Mumbai Police

                                    Talking about my interaction with Mumbai Police and its Commissioners I remember it was the Year 1993 when the ill fated Bomb blast took place.  The coordinated attacks where the most destructive bomb explosions in Indian History. The credibility of Mumbai Police was at its nadir.

 Comm. PoliceR D Tyagi 

  R D Tyagi was the Police commissioner. He approached DDK Mumbai, if some image building was possible for the demoralized force. At that time I used to be the Deputy Director of the TV Station. I took the onus & responsibility to do the Image building exercise and a 14 part series was born on Mumbai Police Force.

News Paper Coverage on the Mumbai Police 

R S Sharma(left) with Comm.Police Mehrotra & Dep.Dir.DD Mukesh Sharma 

 That was the beginning of Doordarshan's cordial relationship with Mumbai Police and its Commissioners.The Series which started with Mr RD Tyagi culminated when Mr Subhash Malhotra became the CP of Mumbai   

 R S Sharma series facing the DD Camera for the TV series  when he was Jt. CP  

Inspector Madhukar Zende 

Right from police history, law & order, crime and punishment, fingerprinting, nakabandi to narcotics & drugs we tried to cover all the aspects of Mumbai police.There was an episode on how Inspector Madhukar Zende captured the notorious killer Charles Shobhraj who is now languishing in jail in Nepal. Retired inspector Zende came to DD studios to narrate the story. 

Late Hemant Karkare

                        

The icing on the cake was the episode which was anchored and presented by another gifted officer of Mumbai police late Hemant Karkare whom we lost during 26/11. He was  the Deputy Commissioner in the department of Narcotics & Drugs. This was the best episode of the series, since Mr Hemant Karkare went beyond the call of duty and put his heart and soul in it.

Another Police Commissioner whom I still share a wonderful rapport is Mr MN Singh. In fact his tenure as the Mumbai Police commissioner and mine as the Director DDK Mumbai coincided. He was a proactive policeman and very positive in his approach. Couple of times he came to the studios to air his views.  

M N Singh with Mukesh Sharma at DDK Mumbai

    A N Roy was another Police Commissioner whom I interacted with more when he was heading the traffic police of Mumbai. During his tenure as the Police Commissioner he came to DD to inaugurate  a TV play which had the star cast comprising of  Policeman in service. That was the first time, such an experiment was done by the Mumbai Police with the pub caster         

A N Roy at DD studios with Mukesh Sharma and  the star cast

  The last time I had managed to bring together a battery of retired Police Commissioners was in the year 2001 when  I started a new program on DD Sahyadri called Saap Seedi or Snakes & Ladder . Four  Veterans from the Mumbai police participated. Needless to mention the show  took  the fortunes of  DD Sahydri Channel to greater heights.