Rakesh Maria’s abrupt removal from his position as Mumbai police commissioner on Tuesday is a case of history repeating itself. The same script played out 20 years ago with another Mumbai police chief, Amarjeet Singh Samra. The lanky Sikh was kicked upstairs just as he had begun to to steady the ship after the disastrous handling by his predecessor, Shrikant Bapat, of the tumultuous riots that followed the demolition of the Babri Masid in December 1992 and the serial blasts of 1993.
Like Maria, Samra was media savvy. Both had journalists eating out of their hands and both had been ticked off for this by their political bosses before being transferred.
In Samra’s case, Union home minister SB Chavan had publicly advised him not to open his mouth too wide at his daily press briefings. The commissioner used to openly admit to lapses by his men and entertained all sorts of complaints against the force.
Any cop would pay heed to a Union home minister, especially if he happened to be a headmaster like Chavan, but Samra made light of it. Within a week, he was ejected from his chair. The man who replaced him, Satish Sahney, applied the healing touch to police-Muslim relations but never sought credit for the stupendous job. The mohalla committees that he helped form are active to this day, giving neighbours a forum at which to talk through their problems.
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In retrospect, Samra was too taken up by the inordinate publicity every Mumbai police commissioner receives. The riots and the serial blasts were epochal events and may have led Samra to magnify his role as a savior of the police force and that of Mumbai itself.
In the present case, the police commissioner was chided by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, another darling of the media, for his obsession with the Sheena Bora murder case. The chief minister was speaking to journalists at his bungalow on Saturday and the news predictably made it to the front page.
Maria responded to it at his daily durbar at Khar police station, where he had been camping to grill Sheena Bora's mother Indrani Mukerjea and other suspects. He declared that he would wrap up the case by the end of the month, when he was due to be promoted to the rank of director-general of police. That was perhaps the last sentence he uttered as Mumbai police chief. He returned to his office at Crawford Market, only to receive the transfer order saying he had been promoted and given the relatively insignificant post of director-general (home guards).
Samra, it can be said, shot himself in the foot but what went wrong in Maria’s case? He had assiduously built up a reputation as a crime buster. He was one of the rare IPS officers who dirtied their hands doing fieldwork. He knew the city, being a Bandra boy, and was quick to nip any law-and-order problem in the bud. As the head boy at his alma mater, St Andrew’s High School, he had scored full marks in studies as well as in sports and there was no reason why his report card as police commissioner would be any different. Instead, he was promoted to the next standard with grace marks.
Disguising the failures
The truth is that Maria, no doubt a competent officer, has successfully concealed his failures. He has been accused of going soft of the Dawood gang and his record as the Anti Terrorist Squad chief was nothing to write home about. The long rope he gave to Indrani Mukerjea's husband, Peter Mukerjea, in the Sheena Bora case is evident.
Maria’s real report card, the one written by the director-general of Maharashtra police, Sanjeev Dayal, an upright officer, would give him 7/10. Maria’s successor and Dayal’s choice as Mumbai commissioner, Ahmad Javed, is no slouch. A clean officer and a silent worker, he lost out to Maria the last time. Javed will retire in January unless given an extension.
Performance aside, the rub was that Maria was thought to be close to Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, who has a stranglehold over the Maharashtra police. This means no Bharatiya Janata Party chief minister would be comfortable with Maria. Especially someone like Fadnavis, who is a novice when it comes to administration. In fact, he was under pressure to relinquish the home portfolio about which he knows little.
By shunting out Maria just three weeks before his promotion was due, Fadnavis has sought to assert himself in his own party as well as in the police force. There was little Maria could have done to escape this. He might as well have put in his papers.
Like Maria, Samra was media savvy. Both had journalists eating out of their hands and both had been ticked off for this by their political bosses before being transferred.
In Samra’s case, Union home minister SB Chavan had publicly advised him not to open his mouth too wide at his daily press briefings. The commissioner used to openly admit to lapses by his men and entertained all sorts of complaints against the force.
Any cop would pay heed to a Union home minister, especially if he happened to be a headmaster like Chavan, but Samra made light of it. Within a week, he was ejected from his chair. The man who replaced him, Satish Sahney, applied the healing touch to police-Muslim relations but never sought credit for the stupendous job. The mohalla committees that he helped form are active to this day, giving neighbours a forum at which to talk through their problems.
Larger-than-life image
In retrospect, Samra was too taken up by the inordinate publicity every Mumbai police commissioner receives. The riots and the serial blasts were epochal events and may have led Samra to magnify his role as a savior of the police force and that of Mumbai itself.
In the present case, the police commissioner was chided by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, another darling of the media, for his obsession with the Sheena Bora murder case. The chief minister was speaking to journalists at his bungalow on Saturday and the news predictably made it to the front page.
Maria responded to it at his daily durbar at Khar police station, where he had been camping to grill Sheena Bora's mother Indrani Mukerjea and other suspects. He declared that he would wrap up the case by the end of the month, when he was due to be promoted to the rank of director-general of police. That was perhaps the last sentence he uttered as Mumbai police chief. He returned to his office at Crawford Market, only to receive the transfer order saying he had been promoted and given the relatively insignificant post of director-general (home guards).
Samra, it can be said, shot himself in the foot but what went wrong in Maria’s case? He had assiduously built up a reputation as a crime buster. He was one of the rare IPS officers who dirtied their hands doing fieldwork. He knew the city, being a Bandra boy, and was quick to nip any law-and-order problem in the bud. As the head boy at his alma mater, St Andrew’s High School, he had scored full marks in studies as well as in sports and there was no reason why his report card as police commissioner would be any different. Instead, he was promoted to the next standard with grace marks.
Disguising the failures
The truth is that Maria, no doubt a competent officer, has successfully concealed his failures. He has been accused of going soft of the Dawood gang and his record as the Anti Terrorist Squad chief was nothing to write home about. The long rope he gave to Indrani Mukerjea's husband, Peter Mukerjea, in the Sheena Bora case is evident.
Maria’s real report card, the one written by the director-general of Maharashtra police, Sanjeev Dayal, an upright officer, would give him 7/10. Maria’s successor and Dayal’s choice as Mumbai commissioner, Ahmad Javed, is no slouch. A clean officer and a silent worker, he lost out to Maria the last time. Javed will retire in January unless given an extension.
Performance aside, the rub was that Maria was thought to be close to Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, who has a stranglehold over the Maharashtra police. This means no Bharatiya Janata Party chief minister would be comfortable with Maria. Especially someone like Fadnavis, who is a novice when it comes to administration. In fact, he was under pressure to relinquish the home portfolio about which he knows little.
By shunting out Maria just three weeks before his promotion was due, Fadnavis has sought to assert himself in his own party as well as in the police force. There was little Maria could have done to escape this. He might as well have put in his papers.
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