Mumbai :  Sanjeev Dayal, a 1977-batch IPS officer took over Tuesday as the new director general of police of Maharashtra from his predecessor K. Subramanyam, who has retired.

Dayal, hailing from Delhi, was a former commissioner of police of Mumbai and was well known for his integrity and strictness. In his 35 years of service as an IPS (Indian POlice Service) officer, Dayal has held several key positions across the state, along with stints with the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Special Protection Group (SPG).

He was handling the reins of the Anti-Corruption Bureau as the DGP before he took over as the state s top cop. On May 31, 2010, Dayal took over as commissioner of Mumbai Police. He is famous for his strictness even with US President Barack Obama s convoy during his visit to India in November 2010 when he refused to allow US Secret Service agents to dictate terms to Mumbai Police.

With Obama and the Michelle seated inside Cadillac One, Dayal did not allow the presidential convoy to move for 11 minutes, until US snipers were cleared from unauthorised vantage points along the route. Between 1988 and 1992, Dayal was on central deputation with the IB, following which he was posted as the superintendent of police at Amravati, Maharashtra. From 1993 to 1995, he was additional commissioner of police of northwest Mumbai.

He also served with the SPG from 1995 to 2002. As external security chief in 1999, he was responsible for the security of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee during his historic visit to Pakistan.