MUMBAI: Rakesh Maria, the high-profile Mumbai Police Commissioner who interrogated the accused in the Sheena Bora murder case, was on Tuesday shunted out and promoted as Director General of Police Home Guards.
Interestingly, former CM Prithviraj Chavan had chosen Ahmed Javed, a 1980 batch IPS officer, for the coveted Mumbai police commissioner’s post in March 2014. However, then Home Minister late R R Patil had put his weight behind Maria, who is one batch junior to Javed.
Volley of Questions
Q. Why Rakesh Maria was promoted 22 days before the due date?
Bakshi: We promoted him before schedule so that the new commissioner could get enough time to control law and order and manage the Ganeshotsav beginning from September 17.
Ambiguity: The Ganeshotsav will conclude on September 27, three days before Maria’s term was due to end.
Q: Why the post was upgraded to accommodate Ahmed Javed?
Bakshi: The government can upgrade or downgrade certain posts as per its convenience.
Ambiguity: Javed will be number two after DGP Sanjeev Dayal’s retirement. As per the set protocol, the commissioner should report to the DGP but Javed is unlikely to follow it.
Theory One
Devendra Fadnavis made a Muslim, Ahmed Javed, chief of Mumbai Police, because he wanted to pacify the city’s Muslims, who had cried foul after the execution of Yakub Memon. Interestingly, Javed will get only four-and-a-half months in the post as he will retire on January 31, 2016. Fadnavis believes that he will be able to change the perception regarding his government among the Muslims during this short period.
Theory Two
While investigating the Sheena Bora case, Rakesh Maria had moved closer to the source of money available with several top media organisations. Grapevine has it that one of the influential media personalities pressured the Union government to take Maria off the investigation. It would have been embarrassing for Fadnavis to ask Maria to keep off from investigating the money trail. So he transferred him.