The Anatomy of Rakesh Maria's transfer, writes Julio Ribeiro

The motive for the Sheena Bora murder has not been established as yet. The motive for the transfer of Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria also remains to be ascertained. Neither Peter Mukerjea in Sheena’s case nor the State’s Home Secretary KP Bakshi in Maria’s case has disclosed the truth.
 
It is not easy to transfer a Police Commissioner with the stroke of a pen. The Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis had been mulling over the matter for a very long time it seems. From all indications he was searching for an excuse. When it was learnt that Rakesh Maria on an official visit to London had met the fugitive, Lalit Modi, outside a London restaurant, Fadnavis thought he had his man. He asked for Maria’s explanation but could not use that meeting as the excuse to shift Maria because Maria’s indiscretion was much less venal than the indiscretions of the Chief Minister’s senior party colleagues Sushma Swaraj and Vasundhara Raje. Since the party had decided to defend both those ladies on the plank of human kindness, a minor blip in Maria’s case could not possibly qualify for harsh action.
 
Political leaders in India are personally wary of high profile bureaucrats or police officers favoured by their political opponents. Even leaders of the same party have been known to dispense with the services of officers favoured by rivals in their own party when power equations shift. A similar bug seems to have bitten Devendra Fadnavis. The Police Commissioner had been appointed by the NCP leadership which held the Home portfolio in the previous dispensation. Hence he must have been a stooge of NCP was what the Chief Minister may have suspected. It is unfortunate that bureaucrats and police officers whose job is to serve the people and uphold the law and not take sides in party politics are often suspected, sometimes rightly and at other times wrongly, of breaking this unwritten code of conduct.

Related read: Rakesh Maria shunted out to sabotage money laundering probe in INX, says NCP

The power of transfer and appointments lies in the hands of the political leadership. Very often, in fact most often, this power is misused in the most whimsical of fashions. This practice of favouring or disfavouring senior bureaucrats and police officers has played havoc with the entire administration in all States of the Union and in the Centre. Officers have also contributed greatly to this State of affairs by approaching political leaders for plum assignments. A junior of my acquaintance when upbraided by me for lobbying for the post of Police Commissioner pleaded that all his colleagues were also involved in this game and he could not afford to be left out. I pointed out to him that if he succeeded in his mission he would have lost his soul and would be forced to submit to many irregular requests of his benefactors. 

This is exactly what happened to that officer. He became Police Commissioner of this great city, the Urbs Prima in Indis, and several requests for irregular transfers of Inspectors and other subordinates had to be signed by him on the dotted line at the cost of peoples’ security. It is well known that the police officers and men who approach politicians for transfers are all motivated by greed and since greed knows no bounds corruption goes out of all control.

Also read: No connection between Sheena Bora murder probe, Rakesh Maria's removal: KP Bakshi
 
But coming back to the transfer of Rakesh Maria and the reason for the Chief Minister signing the order just before he departed for Japan, I wish to express my anguish at the way in which the entire transaction was effected. The Police Commissioner is a very senior officer and the post represents an Institution which should not be degraded in such a peremptory and surreptitious manner. If the Chief Minister wanted to change the incumbent, he should have done so openly giving concrete reasons for his action. Rakesh Maria was a good officer, people friendly and popular. All who have interacted with him left his office room satisfied. He did try to address injustices as any good police officer should. He did not deserve this short shrift.
 
I do admit though that I was a little concerned about the fact that he was spending disproportionate amount of time on the Sheena Bora murder case when a Police Commissioner has many more important things to address. The Ganesh festival was to start on 17th September and Bakri-Id fell on the Gauri Visarjan day. The coincidence could affect peace in the city. This year a double whammy was delivered by the government and the High Court. The government banned the consumption of beef. The High Court prohibited construction of Pandals on public roads. This has disturbed both major communities and could trigger off tensions that could culminate in violence. Rakesh Maria in his anxiety to complete the Sheena Bora investigation before the end of this month could ill afford to neglect his core responsibility of maintaining peace during the Ganesh festival.
 
If this was the reason for his abrupt transfer, the Chief Minister should have spelt it out clearly and the people would have accepted that explanation. But by not speaking out he has clouded the entire issue and set tongues wagging.