Rakesh Maria's tough posture as Mumbai police chief, it seems, ruffled feathers in the Fadnavis government, says Neeta Kolhatkar.
Senior IPS officer Rakesh Maria, who was heading the Maharashtra ATS, on Sunday took charge as Mumbai Police Commissioner and stressed on adopting zero tolerance towards street crimes while describing urban terrorism and organised crime as challenges before the force.
'The talk in police circles is that Maria was about to crack the money transaction trail in the crime. The Mumbai police's Economic and Offences Wing had begun investigations into the money trail and Mumbai police officers had visited Singapore in this connection.'
While some say he went overboard in the Sheena Bora murder case, others feel Devendra Fadnavis is sending out a signal that the chief minister is in full command.
A day after he was shunted out of the post of Mumbai police commissioner, senior IPS officer Rakesh Maria on Wednesday said he was not contemplating quitting.
Successes and controversies have gone hand-in-hand for Maria.
The spotlight had fallen on Maria and his crack team after the CBI arrested media baron Peter Mukherjea last year. There were allegations that Maria had not probed the property angle in the case and not quizzed Mukherjea.
This has come at a time when Maria is personally heading investigations in the Sheena Bora murder.
Former Mumbai police commissioner Rakesh Maria has claimed his successor Ahmed Javed knew Sheena Bora murder case accused Indrani and Peter Mukerjea socially, and that Peter also knew the then joint commissioner of police (law and order) Deven Bharti on "first name terms". Maria, who investigated some high-profile cases like the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts and also headed the probe in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, made the revelation in his memoir Let Me Say It Now released on Monday.
K P Raghuvanshi removed as the chief of Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad, said sources from Maharashtra's home department on Thursday.
He, however, did not name these 'influential and wealthy people'.
A senior police official who was allegedly shot at by his deputy inside a police station in suburban Mumbai, has died.
'The state government would have to divest the Mumbai police commissioner of the powers of this investigation. Mr Javed's power will have to be divested or withdrawn and then conferred on Mr Maria specific to this investigation.' 'If the government issues a notification to this effect, then it would be lawful. Whether it would be palatable to Ahmad Javed or not is another question.'
A five-member team of the Interpol met Mumbai Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria on Monday and sought details of Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist captured alive during the November 26 terror strikes.
Rahul Rawail remembers his mentor Raj Kapoor.
CBI's Special Crime Branch lodged a case in the designated court against Indrani, her former husband and Sanjay Khanna and former driver Shyamvar Pinturam Rai.
CBI sources said that agency teams swooped down at the residences of Peter and Indrani, two each in Mumbai and Goa, Indrani's ancestral home in Guwahati, her driver Shyamvar Pinturam Rai's houses in Mumbai and Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, and the residence of Sanjeev Khanna in Kolkata.
Floral tributes were on Wednesday paid to the martyrs who laid down their lives while fighting terrorists on the sixth anniversary of the 26/11 attack.
Indrani's former husband Sanjeev Khanna was also charged with murder.
The decision was announced at a press meet by Additional Chief Secretary (Home) K P Bakshi.
Devendra Fadnavis -- who completes a year as Maharashtra's chief minister this weekend -- knows his rivals in the party remain hungry for power and want to seize every opportunity to pull him down, says Neeta Kolhatkar.
Indrani exclaimed excitedly, her face lighting up like a little girl's: "I know him soo0o well." Sanjeev Khanna, Accused No 2, jokingly suggested to Badami: "Influencing the witness!" Badami retorted good humouredly: "She can't influence witnesses. She can only influence you and Peter."
The first Bharatiya Janata Party government in Maharashtra headed by state party chief Devendra Fadnavis will be sworn in on Friday with Shiv Sena unlikely to join the new dispensation for now as talks continued between the two saffron parties for a tie-up.
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