It’s official: Rakesh Maria will continue in Sheena Bora case

Mumbai: After a day of confusion over the investigation into the Sheena Bora murder case, the state government has issued an official communication to former Mumbai police commissioner Rakesh Maria asking him to continue supervising the investigation.

Though the government had announced on Tuesday itself that Mr Maria would continue to lead the investigation, officers involved in the investigation were clueless about who to report to. In normal circumstances, they would be reporting to the Mumbai police commissioner. “But if the government wants Mr Maria to head the investigation, the home ministry should issue specific orders and we have not received any such orders,” an officer said.

However, minister of state for home Ram Shinde said that an official communication has been sent to Mr Maria regarding his supervisory role in the Sheena murder case investigation. “An official communication has been sent to Maria directing him to supervise the investigation in the case,” the minister said.

Asked if the officers conducting the investigation would report to newly-appointed police commissioner Ahmed Javed, Mr Shinde said, “For this particular case, the investigation officers will report to Rakesh Maria only as he has been asked to supervise the probe.”

Mr Maria’s sudden promotion and transfer, which was done on Tuesday while his scheduled promotion was just 20-22 days away, created quite a flutter. While the government announced its decision to transfer Mr Maria in the morning, additional chief secretary (home) K.P. Bakshi announced in the evening that he would continue to supervise the investigation into Sheena Bora murder case.

Mr Maria has himself categorically refused to comment on his transfer and the Sheena Bora murder case. When asked whether he would continue to monitor the investigation in the case, he refused to confirm or deny it. When he held the post of Mumbai police commissioner, Mr Maria was personally heading the probe in the Sheena case and had interrogated the accused persons and some of the witnesses.

However, highly-placed sources from the police department said that Mr Maria is very upset with his abrupt transfer and he is not going to continue to be part of the investigation.

“It appears that some IPL officers had lobbied against Mr Maria and prepared a case for his transfer. They fed the information to the home department claiming that Mr Maria was trying to protect Peter Mukerjea. There were also complaints made against him that he had sidelined all junior officers to hog the limelight,” the source said.