When we came to know of this, I instructed Ramesh Mahale investigating officer to take him to the mosque near the metro cinema in a vehicle,” said Maria
Mumbai: Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria’s stunning revelations about the Sheena Bora murder case and 26/11 Mumbai Terror attack case have sparked a new controversy with his allegations inviting counterclaims after the release of his autobiography.
26/11 terrorist Ajmal Aamir Kasab was to pose as a Bengaluru resident named Samir Dinesh Chaudhari — former Mumbai police commissioner Rakesh Maria has revealed in his book titled — Let Me Say It Now. According to the book, Maria has claimed that the perpetrators of 26-11 had planned to project the Mumbai attack as a case of ‘Hindu terror’. According to former Mumbai Police Commissioner Kasab thought that namaaz was not allowed in India and was ‘bewildered’ to see the namaaz in progress.
“There would have been breaking headlines on newspapers claiming how Hindu terrorists had attacked Mumbai. But alas, it had not worked that way and there he was, Ajmal Amir Kasab of Faridkot in Pakistan,” Maria has said in the book.
Kasab had joined the ranks of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) to commit robberies and had nothing to do with jihad. However, it was the indoctrination, that Kasab was made to believe that Muslims were not allowed to offer namaaz in India. He was thus shocked when Maria facilitated his visit to a mosque near Metro cinema.
When we came to know of this, I instructed Ramesh Mahale investigating officer to take him to the mosque near the metro cinema in a vehicle,” said Maria.
Maria has also mentioned how his daily interrogations with Kasab developed a bond between the terrorist and the cop who started addressing Maria as ‘janaab‘. According to Maria, Kasab was given a week-long leave and Rs 1.25 lakh before being sent on the mission to strike Mumbai. He gave the money to the family for his sister’s wedding.
In his book, Rakesh Maria has also raised questions about the suddenness with which he was promoted and transferred while probing the Sheena Bora murder case in 2015. Maria has also indicated that a top Mumbai Police officer who was part of the probing team had kept him in the dark about crucial information related to the murder case.
Now, after the revelations were reported in the media, a senior bureaucrat involved in Maria’s transfer and the Mumbai Police officer named by Maria has counted he former Mumbai Police commissioner’s claims.
Rakesh Maria in the book has mentioned said that IPS officer Deven Bharti, who was then a Mumbai Police joint commissioner responsible for law and order, did not tell him that he knew Peter Mukerjea, who along with his ex-wife Indrani, is accused in the 2012 murder of his step-daughter Sheena.
In his book, Rakesh Maria has also raised questions about his abrupt transfer. Maria was transferred by the then Devendra Fadnavis government right when the Sheena Bora murder case was making daily headlines. Maria was promoted and transferred as Maharashtra Police’s director-general of home guards.
At the time, it was speculated that Maria was transferred because the Maharashtra government was unhappy with his active involvement in the Sheena Bora murder case. This promoted the government to issue an unusual statement that Maria, while not with the Mumbai Police, would continue overseeing the Sheena Bora murder case.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
