In one of the surprising development in Sheena Bora case, the police commissioner of Mumbai Rakesh Maria who was personally pursuing the case has been ousted from the post under the guise of him being promoted to the post of Director General of Home Guards. The ouster of Maria has raised the questions over the functioning of the system in the state. The rumors are that Maria has been removed from this post due to his superfluous involvement into the Sheena Bora murder case which apparently hampering other subordinates in the department. The sources have also revealed that joint commissioner of police, Crime Branch, Atul Kulkarni, was miffed at being left out of what would have been a bread-and-butter case for his team.
According to the news published by Firstpost “Rakesh Maria was seasoned enough police officer to know the problem of mixing up personal priorities with professional duties. A 1981 batch IPS officer, Maria was indiscreet on many counts. Maria’s evinced deep personal interest in the Sheena Bora murder case like we have not seen the boss of any other metropolitan police force do in any other part of the country in recent memory”. It further states that “His proximity to Peter Mukherjea and his family is well known in the media circles, especially Page 3 circles. But getting close to a case, in which he should have actually kept an arm’s length, was not his only indiscretion. He took personal involvement to another level. He personally interrogated the accused, a job that is left to the lowly IO (investigating officer). As if that was not enough, Maria, known for his penchant for media spotlight, briefed the media personally on a regular basis as if the Sheena Bora murder case was the end of crime in Mumbai”.
According to the reports it not only the personal involvement of Maria which resulted in his expulsion from the Mumbai commissioners post but the other matter also came into the way in the circle of the political masters which lead to his destiny. The media is also talking about Maria’s meeting with the Lalit Modi in London but he was spared there because Lalit Modi case embroiled many top leaders but the Sheena Bora murder proved a catalyst in his ouster.
Another article published by the similar newline tells that “Rakesh Maria’s sudden and swift removal from the post of police commissioner of Mumbai under the guise of him being promoted to the post of the Director General of Home Guards, raised more questions than answers on Tuesday. But a key reason for the ouster seems to be Maria’s overzealous and overprotective investigation into the Sheena Bora murder case that has been making headlines for the past two weeks and which rubbed the Mumbai Crime Branch on the wrong side”.
It looks like the police department has their own way of taking the matter up and it is decided time to time cause if they had any manual then it would have easier to follow the guidelines. Coming back to this case the Crime Branch was apparently upset about the entire investigation and the way it was handled by Maria. The crime branch has termed this situation as Hijack of Case by the chief and according to them “In normal course, this case would have landed up in Kulkarni’s lap within a few days. This is done to keep the police stations free from the burden of intricate investigations so as to look after normal law and order duties”.
The news of the personal attachment of Maria in to this case has been brought to the notice of CM by Additional Secretary Bashi who was updating the CM Fadanvis on day to day basis about the progress in the case of Indrani Mukerjea. Finally the minister rebuked Maria, in a roundabout way saying “Police have shown a lot of involvement and attention in a case which is in the media spotlight. It should pay similar attention to other cases which do not get media focus.”
According to the sources Maria was unaware of the coming storm; in fact he only realized it when CM signed the order in the previous evening before leaving for the trip to Japan on next morning. Although Bakshi tried to safeguard the interest of the department saying that “There was no hurry in transferring Maria. It would have been inappropriate to transfer him on 30 September, in the middle of the festive season as Ganapati festival, a very important event in Maharashtra would be on at that time. Therefore, we decided to advance the promotion of Maria“. Not without adding this line, that “Maria would continue to head the Sheena Bora probe irrespective of the transfer.
It is really surprising sometimes as how the system works and does our system have any protocol and if it is there then why the senior officers of that caliber needs to be reminded about their duties by the politicians? Does politicians have right to interfere into the investigations? In what capacity? There are many loopholes in our system which keeps out system and the people confused all the time. With the transfer of Maria the Sheena Bora case would be taking new turn. The new investigation officers will handle the matter in their own way and nobody will try to do the extra work after keeping in mind the consequences which would follow. We seek your valuable suggestions and comments in this issue.
Sources: Various Sources
Edited by: Goa Prism News Desk
