Arup Patnaik

Some Lesser Known Facts About Arup Patnaik

• Arup Patnaik was the 36th Police Commissioner of Mumbai. He retired on 30th September 2015 after an illustrious career in the Maharashtra Police spanning over 36 years in service. Patnaik is the first and only Odia IPS officer to hold the post of Police Commissioner of Mumbai. ^[1]Wikipedia

• He was awarded the President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service in 2003 and the Indian Police Medal for meritorious services in 1994.

• He is an honours graduate in Chemistry from the Delhi University. He excelled in sports like football and boxing during his time at Mayo College. His father was highly educated. He had done MA (History) and LLB and was a practising lawyer. His father had close ties with Biju Patnaik.

• Prior to joining IPS in 1979, he worked as a Probationary Officer in State Bank of India for a period of two years. He had joined the bank in 1976. ^[2]Security Watch India

• During his tenure as DCP (western suburbs), he was one of the key officers who took part in the 1991 Lokhandwala operation in which Dilip Buwa and Maya Dolas were killed.

• While he was Police Commissioner, he clamped down on various illegal establishments. He raided pubs and bars after which media called him “Bar Buster”. He conducted raids on several bars in western Mumbai, which were the favourite hangout places of members of the underworld. ^[3]NDTV

• He even raided Dagdi Chawl, gangster Arun Gawli’s stronghold and nabbed key shooter Tanya Koli with a large cache of arms.

• As DCP Zone VII, he was the part of the team formed to investigate the 1993 Bombay blasts. He is credited with the largest ever seizure of RDX, to the tune of 1500 kg at Mumbra, Mumbai in 1993. ^[4]The Hindu

• Patnaik has represented India on the international front too. He represented India at Interpol, Lyons (France) and has participated in anti-money laundering workshops in Tokyo, Japan.

• He was a member of a high-level team that was sent to London to meet Scotland Yard and number of reputed professionals to help chart out the plan for a comprehensive CCTV cover project for Mumbai City.

• He also led a high-level team of Indian Police Officers to Los Angeles for extensive training with the FBI and the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) in counter-terrorism techniques.

• He joined Biju Janata Dal on 18 April 2018. He was personally inducted into the party by the Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik.

• He is the Chairman of  Odisha’s State Youth Welfare Board, the Biju Yuva Vahini and he has been given the rank and status of the Minister of State by the Odisha State Government. ^[5]Times of India

• His life story has been adapted into films, like Aan: Men At Work and Black Friday, and books like Hussain Zaidi’s ‘Black Friday’ which details the 1993 Mumbai bombings. Zaidi has dedicated an entire chapter on Patnaik and his handling of the situation.