SC Permits Ex-Mumbai Police Commissioner Overseeing Manipur Violence Probe to Travel Abroad

The Supreme Court has granted the request of former Mumbai Police Commissioner Dattatray Padsalgikar, who has been designated by it to oversee investigations in cases pertaining to the ethnic violence in Manipur, to travel abroad.

A bench comprising CJI D Y Chandrachud along with Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra permitted the plea of the officer after considering his letter seeking authorization to travel to the United States and Europe.

“Dattatraya Padsalgikar, former Director General of Police, Maharashtra, who has been appointed by this Court to monitor investigations by CBI and Manipur Police SITs, has communicated his intention to travel to the US and Europe on a personal visit from May 1, 2024, to May 29, 2024. The request is acknowledged, and the officer is authorized to travel abroad,” the bench stated.

The hearing on Manipur ethnic violence cases is now scheduled for April 29, 2024.

On August 7 2023, the apex court had designated Padsalgikar to “monitor” the CBI probe into instances of sexual violence in Manipur.

Padsalgikar, a 1982 batch IPS officer, was on deputation to the Intelligence Bureau (IB) for a few years before being appointed as the Mumbai Police commissioner on January 30, 2016. He served as the head of Mumbai Police until June 29, 2018, before being promoted as the Maharashtra DGP.

On October 29, 2019, he was appointed as the Deputy National Security Advisor.

The Court had also constituted a three-member committee of former high court judges, led by retired J-K High Court Chief Justice Gita Mittal, to oversee the relief and rehabilitation of the victims of the Manipur ethnic violence.