Indian-Origin Neil Basu Likely Candidate To Become New Scotland Yard Chief

If successful, he will replace the disgraced Cressida Dick, who quit earlier this week over allegations of racism.

Anil Kanti 'Neil' Basu, an Indian-origin British counterterror cop, is a likely candidate to replace Dame Cressida Dick as the chief of the Metropolitan Police, also known as Scotland Yard.

Cressida Dick was the first woman to lead the largest police force of the United Kingdom (UK) until she resigned earlier this week after a series of revealing reports that implicated the force under her of bullying, misogyny, and racism.

Basu, who is the most senior police officer of Asian heritage and is currently the Assistant Commissioner (Specialist Operations) of the London Metropolitan Police, could therefore become the next commissioner, according to various reports in the British media.

Origins

Basu grew up in Stafford, where he studied at Walton High School, according to Daily Mail.

After graduating with a degree in economics from Nottingham University, he joined the Met Police in 1992 after a brief stint at his first job at Barclays Bank.

He was promoted to chief of counterterrorism and specialist operations, after which he was appointed as the director of the College of Policing.

Basu's claim to worldwide fame was during an incident at London Bridge two years ago, when he and his team shot dead a terror convict named Usman Khan, The Guardian reported.

Basu has been vocal about the racial discrimination that he has suffered throughout his life, especially during his childhood.

While giving his statement to British MPs on the Home Affairs Select Committee in May 2019, Basu said that he had spent his whole life "dealing with racism," and he therefore had an understanding of the problems that ethnic minority communities in the country face with respect to racism, the BBC reported.

"I grew up in an era where people didn't talk about racism and there was a lot of casual racism around. I understand what it feels like to be abused on a daily basis. I understand what they feel like."

Neil Basu, as quoted by the BBC

Basu’s father, who hailed from Kolkata and relocated to the UK in the 1960s, was a surgeon for the UK Police for 40 years.

His mother, of Welsh heritage, worked as a nurse.

If Basu does end up becoming commissioner, he would be the first person from an ethnic minority to hold the top post.

(With inputs from The Guardian and the BBC.)