CM Devendra Fadnavis breaks silence, defends Maria’s transfer

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Hours before embarking on a five-day trip to Japan on September 8, the chief minister, who also heads the home department, transferred Maria by promoting him as Director General (Home Guards). The transfer was seen as being linked to the investigations in the high-profile Sheena Bora murder case, which Maria had been personally supervising. The same day, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) K P Bakshi said Maria’s transfer had nothing to do with the murder probe, the government announced that he would continue to supervise it. But Maria declined the offer.

“If the government thought that instead of changing a police commissioner in the midst of festivities, it was better to put a new person in place before the festive season started, what’s so wrong about it? Although I believe that officers have no caste and religion, the point could also have been raised as to why Maria was made Commissioner of Police, Mumbai, sidelining two senior and decorated officers like Ahmad Javed, a person from a minority community, and Vijay Kamble, a person from a backward community. However, I would say that the government at that point of time thought that Maria was better suited for the situation,” he wrote.

Fadnavis, who had maintained a studied silence on the transfer row all along, also questioned the linking of the Sheena murder probe with the transfer. “A police chief is not an investigation officer, but just a supervisory authority,” he said.

At a media briefing last month, Fadnavis, while complimenting the Mumbai Police investigation in the Sheena murder probe, had taken a veiled dig at the top cop. “It (Mumbai police) should pay similar attention to other cases which do not get media focus,” he had said.