Pradip Sawant (born 1962) is an Indian

Police Officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

, currently serving as the DCP Security Branch in

Mumbai Police The Mumbai Police (Marathi: मुंबई पोलीस, IAST: ''Mumbaī Pulīs'', formerly ''Bombay Police'') is the police department of the city of Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is a part of Maharashtra Police and has the primary responsibiliti ...

. He is a recipient of the President's Police Medal for Meritorious Service in 2002. He was behind more than 300 encounters in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

during his stint as DCP (Detection Crime Branch) between the years 2000 and 2003. He was suspended in 2004 for his alleged involvement in Telgi stamp paper scam, but was reinstated in 2009, and posted as DCP

ATS ATS or Ats may refer to: Businesses * ATS Wheels, or ''Auto Technisches Spezialzubehör'', a German wheel manufacturer and sponsor of a Formula One racing team * ATS Automation Tooling Systems, an Ontario, Canada-based factory automation company ...

, after he was found innocent in June 2007.

Early life and education

He completed his B.Sc. in

Chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

from Ramnarain Ruia College,

. He was selected as a Dy.Sp in Maharashtra Police through MPSC exam, in 1986. He is said to have topped his batch at the Maharashtra Police Academy in

Nashik Nashik (, Marathi: aːʃik, also called as Nasik ) is a city in the northern region of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Situated on the banks of river Godavari, Nashik is the third largest city in Maharashtra, after Mumbai and Pune. Nashik ...

, reported by Outlook India.

Career

Sawant was instrumental in breaking the back of several underworld gangs including

Chhota Shakeel Chhota Shakeel (born 31 December 1955) is an Indian crime boss and a high-ranking leader of the D-Company, a criminal group based in South Asia. He joined the D-Company in 1988 under the kingpin Dawood Ibrahim, and was reportedly responsible fo ...

Chhota Rajan Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje (born 13 January 1959), popularly known by his moniker Chhota Rajan, is an Indian gangster who served as the boss of a major crime syndicate based in Mumbai. While living in Tilak Nagar, a big colony for the low-inco ...

, Ashwin Naik, Arun Gawli between 1998 and 2003 following a spurt in gangland shoot-outs in 1998. He also detected the murder case of Bharat Shah, Owner of Roopam chain stores who was shot dead by

Dawood gang Dawood Ibrahim (; born 26 December 1955) is an Indian mafia gangster, drug kingpin, and wanted terrorist from Dongri, Mumbai. He reportedly heads the Indian organised crime syndicate D-Company, which he founded in Mumbai in the 1970s. Ibrahim i ...

in 1998. He was responsible for arresting gangsters, affiliated to

(

) for attempted murder on

Milind Vaidya Milind Vaidya ( mr, मिलिंद वैद्य) is Shiv Sena Politician from Mumbai. He was the former Mayor of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC; IAST: ), also known as the Municipal C ...

, former

Mayor of Mumbai The Mayor of Mumbai is the elected chief of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai. The mayor is the first citizen of the city. The role is largely ceremonial as the real powers are vested in the Municipal Commissioner. The Mayor plays a d ...

in March 1999; in the attack, 3 people were killed and 7 others including Vaidya were seriously injured. In December 1999, his team arrested three alleged terrorists who had abetted the hijacking of the

Indian Airlines flight 814 Indian Airlines Flight 814, commonly known as IC 814, was an Indian Airlines Airbus A300 en route from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, to Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, India, on Friday, 24 December 1999, whe ...

from

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

. Pradip Sawant had formed special squads that arrested 486 alleged gangsters and shot dead 156 criminals in encounters.

Positions held

Controversy

In January 2004, Sawant was booked under MCOCA and suspended for his alleged involvement in the multi-crore Abdul Karim Telgi fake stamp paper scam. On 27 June 2007, he along with Mumbai Police Commissioner RS Sharma, was discharged by the special

Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act The Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999 (Mah. 30/1999) is a law enacted by the state of Maharashtra in India in 1999 to combat organised crime and terrorism. Known as 'MCOCA', the Act provides the State Government with special powe ...

court in

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

in the fake stamps and stamp papers case for lack of evidence.

Awards and recognition

* He was conferred with the President's Police Medal for Meritorious Service in 2002. * He received the Deepak Jog Memorial trophy for the Best Investigating Officer for the year 2000. * On 12 June 1998, Sawant gets the ''Best Crime Detection Award'' from

Gopinath Munde Gopinath Pandurang Munde (12 December 1949 – 3 June 2014) was an Indian politician from Maharashtra. A popular Leader in Maharashtra called a Lokneta. He was a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Union Minister for Rural an ...

, Deputy CM of Maharashtra at the Police Club,

In popular culture

The 1999

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

film

Sarfarosh ''Sarfarosh'' () is a 1999 Indian action drama film written, produced and directed by John Matthew Matthan and starring Aamir Khan, Naseeruddin Shah, Sonali Bendre and Mukesh Rishi. John started working on ''Sarfarosh'' in 1992. Seven years ...

starring Aamir Khan is said to be inspired by Pradip Sawant. Often the character of ACP Ajay Singh Rathod, which was played by Aamir Khan in the film

is closely associated with Sawant.

References

External links

Sawant ko Aane do (Let Sawant come)
at ''

Afternoon DC ''The Afternoon Despatch & Courier'' was an evening tabloid in Mumbai, India. The newspaper was launched by Behram Contractor, better known as "Busybee", on 25 March 1985. This newspaper served as a launch pad for several well-known journalis ...

'' (Interview)
The Killing Field
at ''

The Sunday Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' (Interview) {{DEFAULTSORT:Sawant, Pradip 1961 births Living people Police officers from Mumbai People from Thane district