Mumbai: Three reasons why Rakesh Maria was shunted out

What made Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis invite controversy by shunting out Rakesh Maria yesterday when he would have had to wait a mere three weeks for the officerrsquos scheduled promotion on September 30 While the sudden announcement before flying out to Japan yesterday caught everyone offguard and left them flummoxed Mantralaya officials close to the CM were the exceptionRead Story Rakesh Marias stint as CP was fraught with controversyRakesh MariaThe officials told midday that Fadnavis had been unhappy with Maria ever since coming to power in October last year and that several of the Mumbai Commissioner of Policersquos actions since then had only added to the CMrsquos unhappiness even though he held the officer in high regard for his detection skillsA Home department officer said the CM was very specific in telling media persons just a couple of days ago that there were many other matters that needed Marias attention and despite that the CP had chosen to visit the Khar Police station and made further revelations to the media there File PicThey said Mariarsquos ouster was only a matter of time and that the CM had been waiting for the right time to strike While a series of factors were at play behind the decision three seemed to stand out in middayrsquos conversations with sources close to the CMProbably the most important of these was Fadnavisrsquos wish to send out a message especially to the police force not to mistake him as soft By ensuring a humiliating exit for the Mumbai top cop just 22 days ahead of his scheduled promotion and relegating him to a relatively unimportant post Fadnavis seems to have driven the message homeMariarsquos unilateral support for the Shiv Senarsquos 24X7 nightlife plan which Fadnavis had reportedly found out about only through the media in February had left the CM fuming Already unhappy with the CongressNCP appointee sources said Fadnavis had seen this act of Mariarsquos as one of insubordination and had been waiting to crack the whip ever sinceThe final nail in the coffin seems to have been the keen interest shown by the Commissioner of Police in the highprofile Sheena Bora murder case With Maria personally leading the investigations and addressing the media nearly every day Fadnavis had reportedly seen Mariarsquos lsquoenthusiasmrsquo as an attempt to hog the limelight Rumblings of discontent in the Crime Branch at being left out of the probe only added to Mariarsquos problems Not a soft CMAccording to people in the know of the events that preceded the orders of Mariarsquos promotion and Ahmad Javedrsquos appointment the CM had been receiving several complaints against the Commissioner from people in the police department as well as in political circlesAlso read Sheena Bora murder Shunted Rakesh Maria will continue to head probeBy ensuring a humiliating exit for Maria the CM wanted to send out a message especially to the police department that he is a strong administrator and not as soft as he is projected to be said a senior Mantralaya official They said the CM did not even spare State DGP Sanjeev Dayal when he found him lagging behind in policing mattersHowever in Mariarsquos case both the CM and Dayal were on the same page since Dayal had wanted the seniormost official Javed appointed as the Mumbai top cop last year but Maria had superseded him to the post because of political factors The CMrsquos resolve to replace Maria before the officerrsquos term ended was so strong that the Home department chose to face legal consequences if any by upgrading the CPrsquos post to the rank of DGPThe CongressNCP government had given an undertaking to the High Court in 2004 that the CPrsquos post which is of Additional DGP rank will not be upgraded Before that R H Mendonca and M N Singh both DGPrank officers had held the city CPrsquos post just like Javed will do nowUnilateral approachldquoOne of the main issues was Mariarsquos unilateral approval in February this year of Shiv Senarsquos proposal for keeping Mumbai open 24X7 Neither the government nor the CM were consulted on this and the CM had come to know about Mariarsquos support for the plan only through the media the next dayrdquo said a Mantralaya officerldquoHe had made his displeasure known to us after the news reports of Mariarsquos approval in this regard were publishedrdquo ldquoThe CM also did not like some aspects of Mariarsquos functioning mdash like the alleged favouritism and the way he used to pit groups within the department against each other mdash and the way he commanded the city policeHe highly respected the officer for his detection work but did not approve of many other things that he came to know from his own sourcesrdquo said the officer refusing to elaborate further Another officer said equally cryptically that Fadnavis did not approve of Mariarsquos handling of investigations in cricket betting and some issues related to law and orderThe officers hinted however that Fadnavis had always seen Maria as a CongressNCP man and that his support of and approval for the Sena nightlife proposal without consulting the BJPled government and the CM himself had made matters worse for MariaThe Bora caseSources said that Mariarsquos exit also has something to do with the Sheena Bora murder case even though later in the day the officer was asked to supervise investigations even after leaving the post of Mumbai Commissioner following allegations that corporate pressure was behind Mariarsquos transferldquoIn the first place Maria was too enthusiastic in the murder case At times we in Mantralaya got the impression that he was doing it only to hog media attentionrdquo said a Home department officer adding that the CM was very specific in telling media persons just a couple of days ago that there were many other matters that needed Mariarsquos attention and despite that the CP had chosen to visit the Khar Police station and made further revelations to the media thereFadnavis has also been told about the fact that the Sheena Bora murder investigations had created a rift between the Crime Branch and local police ldquoCrime Branch officials who expected to get the case as has been the practice felt ignored by Maria who once headed the Crime BranchThe officers are not too happyrdquo said a police officer He said this wasnrsquot an isolated case in which Maria was seen doing things against his supervisorsrsquo wishes And if senior police officers are to be believed Mariarsquos supervision of the Sheena murder even after taking over as the Director General Home Guards is expected to create further problems in the city police which will be under Javed henceforthAlso read Rakesh Maria replaced by Ahmed Javed as Mumbai Police CommissionerldquoThe decision is illogical and not tenable The local DCP should be asked to handle the case as most of the investigations are overrdquo said a senior IPS officer The officer added that even the police manual does not allow the head of the civil defence force Home Guards to supervise a criminal investigation