Mumbai, June 2 (IANS) Sadanand Date, the police officer seriously wounded in a gun battle with Pakistani terrorists during the 2008 Mumbai attack, was Wednesday appointed the chief of Force One, Maharashtra’s specialised counter-terror unit.
Presently additional commissioner of police (central region), Date was holding additional charge of the force since January this year.
Confirming the development, Date said he would assume charge from next Monday.
However, he declined to spell out his agenda for Force One or his priorities for the elite security unit designed on the lines of the National Security Guard (NSG).
Force One was commissioned in November 2009 and is headquartered over 80 acres in the sylvan green surroundings of the Aarey Milk Colony, in northwest Mumbai.
The need to have a special force on the lines of the NSG was felt after the Nov 26-29, 2008 terror attack and within a short span of a year’s time, the force was raised.
The Force One comprises 256 officers and men headed by an officer of the rank of deputy inspector general (DIG).
‘The Force One commandos are selected after a rigorous screening test. They have undergone training just like the NSG commandos and are capable of facing any terror attack. Modern weapons like AK-47, carbine Glock pistols and grenades have been provided to them,’ official sources said.
Date, a 1990 batch Indian Police Service officer, was awarded the President’s Medal in 2007 has also served with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Holding a doctorate from Pune, his home town, Date is a post-graduate in commerce and a qualified Cost & Management Accountant.
Date was selected for the Humphrey Fellowship Programme at the University of Minnesota, where he studied the measures to control white collar crime and organised crime in the US.
