The prestigious National Investigation Agency (NIA), which came into existence after one of the most heinous terrorist attacks on the country, will now see a officer as its chief who fought bravely with the terrorists involved in this attack and became a household name in 2008.

The 1990-batch senior IPS officer of Maharashtra cadre, Mr. Sadanand Vasant Date, has been appointed as the new Director General of NIA. At the time of this announcement, he was serving as the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad chief.

Mr. Date will replace Mr. Dinkar Gupta, whose superannuation is slated for March 31. He will remain on this post till 31 December, 2026.

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THE ATTACK THAT SHOOK THE NATION

Nearly 16 years ago, Mr. Date fought terrorist Ajmal Kasab and his associate Abu Ismail until he became unconscious during one of the biggest attacks on the country’s financial capital, Mumbai, on 26 November, 2008.

Mr. Date was posted as Additional Commissioner of Police, Central Zone, at that time. He had received information on phone about the indiscriminate firings by the terrorists near Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus Railway Station.

Shortly before the attack, 10 terrorists had entered Mumbai on a boat. By the time, Mr. Date and his team reached the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Kasab and Ismail, both Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists, had left the place and had taken over the rooftop of the nearby Cama Hospital. The team followed them there. Till that time, the police team was taking action on the basis of guesswork.

They only knew that two people were there, but had no information about the arms and ammunition possessed by the terrorists. Nevertheless, the team led by Mr. Date decided to take on the two.

Responding to the police action, the terrorists threw grenades at them, causing shrapnel injuries to Mr. Date’s hands and legs.

Despite being injured, Mr. Date informed other senior officers about their location and continued firing at the two terrorists. He engaged both the terrorists for about an hour but, due to excessive bleeding, he became unconscious. The quick response and action of his team played a vital role in saving the patients in the hospital. Eighteen Mumbai Police personnel were martyred that evening.

In an interview following the terrorist attacks, Mr. Date had said, “The 26/11 attack is the most challenging incident of my career and will stay with me for life. I tried to do my best according to my abilities.”

BACKGROUND

Mr. Date comes from a very humble background. He originally hails from Pune, Maharashtra. He obtained his doctorate degree from Pune University. He is also a qualified Cost and Management Accountant from the Institute of Cost Accountants of India (ICAI).

Mr. Date has previously held several important positions. He has served in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Intelligence Bureau (IB), and Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Maharashtra.

In the year 2020, he became the first Commissioner of the newly formed Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) Police Commissionerate. He was also the Joint Commissioner of Law and Order and, later, Joint Commissioner of Crime Branch in Mumbai City. He has had a remarkable career, having played a key role in dismantling the Ravi Pujari gang several years ago while serving as the head of the Mumbai Crime Branch.

He has been the chief of Maharashtra’s ATS for the past two years, where he has handled several high-profile cases, including the arrest of Pune-based DRDO scientist Pradeep Kurulkar on espionage charges. He also caught many terrorists associated with ISI. He has been awarded the President’s Police Medal for gallantry.

Mr. Date is a much respected IPS officer across the bureaucracy circle because of his dedication to service. It is said that when he was in the Economic Offenses Wing, he used to reach his office an hour earlier at 8.30 am instead of 9.30 am, because he had to read many case files and, so, he used to come early and look at the files so that he did not have to spend the rest of the day in this work and, instead, could meet people. Seeing him, other officers also used to come before time and read all the cases.

Apart from this, when the MBVV Police Commissionerate was established, many IPS officers did not want to go there because handling a Commissionerate is a very difficult task as there was a lot of administrative work involved. But, Mr. Date not only accepted the posting but also established a system like e-office as well. The Maharashtra government has now asked the police departments to do the same kind of work that Mr. Date had done 3-4 years ago.