Mentoring Done Right

Additional Director General (ADG) Law and Order, Mahesh Bhagwat and his team have done it again. As many as 66 candidates, who were mentored by him in the art of cracking interviews, cleared the UPSC Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) Assistant Commandant Examination 2024, the results of which were declared on June 13, 2025.

A few of the candidates who bagged top ranks are Shyam Yadav (AIR 2), Shreyas S (AIR 5), Kuldeep Bishnoi (AIR 13), Aniket Tribhuvan (AIR 20), Riya (AIR 35), and Siddhesh Yeole (AIR 49).

Bhagwat, who has been hand-holding IAS, IPS and UPSC aspirants for years, has been a guide for students who come from different parts of India. The officer, who has mentored over 10,000 students till now, says that over 2300 of his mentees have fulfilled their dream of joining government services.

“We are a few like-minded people who have gathered to guide these students through Zoom and other online platforms. Lectures are arranged and delivered through WhatsApp. Many of them come to my Hyderabad office too. International Relations expert Dr. Shailendra Deolankar, Supriya Devasthali, an ICAS officer, and other such officers are part of these teams, which help the aspirants throughout the process. However, we do not provide coaching. We focus on interviews only,” says the officer.

Bhagwat shares: “Since the personality test/interview is one of the most difficult processes in these exams. I, along with other fellow officers, pay individual attention to all students and prepare them for potential questions. As we are on the other side, we have an idea about the type of questions that are asked. Depending on the native state of the candidate, her hobbies, her work experience, etc., we prepare a list of probable questions. Through video-conferencing platforms, we guide them on their body language, speaking skills, confidence levels and other parameters.”