Mahesh Muralidhar Bhagwat is an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer who received the U.S. Department of State's Trafficking in Persons Report Heroes Award in 2017. He served as 1st and longest commissioner of Police Rachakonda in Hyderabad east side for 6.5 years. He was recently transferred from the post of ADGP Railways, Road Safety and Legal Telangana to ADG Law and order. .
He has also acted as a resource person at the National Police Training Academy in Hyderabad and other states, providing training programs on community policing and anti-trafficking efforts.
Bhagwat holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Civil Engineering from the College of Engineering Pune and a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from Osmania University, Hyderabad. Bhagwat has done his schooling from ZP school till 4th standard and Sri Tilok Jain Vidyalaya till 10th standard at Pathardi, District Ahmednagar, Maharashtra from 1974 to 1984. Done his intermediate studies from SP College Pune in 1984 to 1986.
Bhagwat joined the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1995. Throughout his career, he has held various positions:
Mahesh has contributed to eight books on trafficking published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Ministry of Home Affairs, India. One of his notable works, Synergy Between Stakeholders, is used as resource material for the anti-trafficking certificate diploma course at Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Delhi.