Dr P S Pasricha on Wednesday took over as the 30th police commissioner of the Mumbai police force, succeeding R S Sharma, who is on leave after being questioned by the Special Investigation Team probing the multi-crore counterfeit stamp paper racket.

Pasricha, a 1970 batch IPS officer, took charge from the acting commissioner, Dr Satyapal Singh, at the Crawford Market headquarters of the Mumbai police.
 
Pasricha is only the second Sikh officer to head the Mumbai police force after A S Samra.

Sharma, who is due for retirement on November 30, proceeded on leave on November 14, after the SIT following a directive of the Bombay high court submitted a confidential report on Sharma to Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde.

The announcement of Pasricha's name for the city police chief's post was made on Tuesday evening.

Pasricha is taking over charge at a time when the city police force's image has suffered a severe blow following arrests of several police officers in connection with the stamps scam.

Talking to reporters after taking over, Pasricha said his first task will be to restore Mumbaiites' confidence in their police force.

He said he will introduce complete transparency in the department's operations and promised that there will be no groupism in the force in his tenure.

Pasricha admitted that the morale of his officers and constabulary is low and that steps will have to taken to restore their pride.

About the anti-terrorist squad, he said the matter will be discussed and a decision taken in the next couple of days.

With PTI inputs