From Mumbai ‘bar busting top cop’ to BJD’s new Puri face against Sambit Patra: Who is Arup Patnaik

Journalists remember former IPS officer Arup Patnaik’s tenure as the Mumbai Police commissioner as a “newsy” time, given the number of unusual changes brought about by him after being appointed the city top cop. The 1979 batch IPS officer from Odisha, who retired in 2015, has again hit the headlines now.

The ruling Naveen Patnaik-led BJD has fielded Arup from the party’s bastion Puri for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, where he will take on BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra.

Arup, who joined the BJD in April 2018, currently heads the party’s social welfare wing, Odisha-Mo Parivar (Odisha my family).

The BJD dropped four-time Puri MP and its face in Delhi, Pinaki Misra, to give ticket to Arup from the high-profile constituency.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Arup, who hails from Puri district, had lost on the BJD’s ticket to the BJP’s Aparajita Sarangi from Bhubaneshwar by 23,839 votes.

Patra was fielded by the BJP against Pinaki in the Puri seat in 2019, but he was beaten by the latter in a tough fight by 11,714 votes.

During his stint as the Mumbai top cop from February 2011 to August 2012, Arup always remained in the news – from reeling off catchphrases like “pehle action baadme section” and “pehle joota baadme Gita” (asking cops to act first and apply the law later) to having two over six-foot tall bodyguards near him all the time, to issuing circulars asking cops not to have “vulgar” ringtones on their mobile phones.

He would also conduct “surprise visits” to police stations at night and check cupboards of police officers to ensure they were not up to anything illegal. He was also credited with improving the state of the police canteens across Mumbai.

Considered as a tough taskmaster and straightforward officer, Arup’s