Former ace police officer Rakesh Maria had an arguably stellar reputation in service, being famous for investigating various bomb attacks and the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. However, his reputation suffered a jolt in the Sheena Bora murder case. Sheena was allegedly killed by her mother, Indrani Mukerjea, in collusion with her husband, Peter Mukerjea, a media tycoon.
Sheena Bora was allegedly killed by Indrani and her accomplices in 2012. Indrani was arrested in August 2015; Peter was arrested in November that year by the CBI. Their trial is continuing. Indrani and Peter formalised their divorce in October 2019.
Maria was the commissioner of the Mumbai Police at the time of the arrest of Indrani. In Let Me Say it Now, a book written by Maria on his experiences as a police officer, he opens up about his role in the investigation. Let Me Say It Now, published by Westland, was released on Monday.
According to excerpts from the book, Maria claims that then Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had telephoned him after the arrest of Indrani Mukerjea. Maria claims he had briefed Fadnavis that "although Peter Mukerjea was not present during the killing and disposal of the body, his overall complicity was being probed and he was being regularly called to the police station for questioning”.
Maria writes he questioned Peter Mukerjea on September 7, 2015, and confronted him on why he did not act after his son, Rahul, told him that Sheena Bora had disappeared.
Maria was informed on the next day, September 8, that he had been promoted and transferred to the post of director general (Home Guards). At the time, media reports claimed Fadnavis was unhappy with Maria's handling of the Sheena Bora case. At the time, Satyapal Singh, BJP MP and former Mumbai Police commissioner, told the media that Maria knew Peter.
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In his book, Maria writes, "Was there a deliberate attempt to discredit the probe by spreading the falsehood that I knew the Mukerjeas socially?" Maria reproduced text messages he sent to Fadnavis claiming that he had never met Peter Mukerjea till he interrogated him on September 7, 2015.
Maria writes Fadnavis had initially told him that his transfer was not related to the Sheena Bora case. However, Maria writes Fadnavis sang a different tune in an interview to Times Now in October 2016. Maria writes that replies from Fadnavis implied that "I had misled him for a long time... given Peter Mukerjea a clean chit".
Maria writes that during his interrogation of Peter Mukerjea, the latter said he had told IPS officer Deven Bharti about the disappearance of Sheena in 2012. Bharti is currently the chief of the Anti-terrorist Squad of Mumbai Police.