Hasan Gafoor

Who was Hasan Gafoor?

Hasan Gafoor was the Director General of Police of Maharashtra. Previously he was the Director General of Police of Maharashtra and managing director of the Maharashtra Police Housing & Welfare Corporation. He was the Police Commissioner of Mumbai, but was promoted as an aftermath of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks. Prior to being the Police Commissioner, he was the Additional Director General, Anti-Corruption Bureau between 15 June 2007 and 29 February 2008. Gafoor is a 1974 batch IPS officer, and was the second Muslim to become the police chief of Mumbai after Syed Majeedullah, who was the Police Commissioner from 1962 to 1965.

After taking over as commissioner in February 2008, Gafoor was worried about his ragtag force’s ability to counter a terrorist strike. But he was starved of funds. So he improvised. Former British commandos whom he had befriended as Air India’s security chief were invited to train a select group. Kamte was given charge of this programme. The famous Israeli-run ICTS aviation security company trained Mumbai airport police on essentials such as how to profile passengers or identify a suicide bomber. The training was free of cost, since ICTS was looking for an entry into the Indian market. His most ambitious project was to modernise the antiquated police control room through a citywide electronic surveillance system. But in a police force bedeviled by corruption and crass careerism, men like Gafoor, Karkare and Kamte remained ‘outsiders’.