MAXIMUM COP

From 1993’s serial blasts to the Gateway attack a decade later and the recent terror strikes, the hand joining the dots belongs to Mumbai's JCP (Crime) Rakesh Maria

By most definitions, Rakesh Maria is an unlikely cop. His father was a Bollywood producer and film personalities were frequent guests in his home. One of his favourite anecdotes involves a party his father threw when he got into the IPS. “I remember a big star walked up to me and congratulated me before enquiring whether IPS was a good company,” Maria recalls.

However, when it comes to solving terror cases, there are few who can match the track record of Mumbai’s Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime). Be it the 1993 serial blasts, the Zaveri Bazaar and Gateway of India blasts, or the recent terror strikes carried out by the Indian Mujahideen, Maria played a crucial role in cracking all. Born and brought up in Bandra, the 1981-batch officer is one of the most charismatic and recognised faces in the Mumbai Police. He been immortalised on film — based on former Indian Express correspondent S Hussain Zaidi’s book Black Friday — and is said to have inspired the character Ajay Lal in Suketu Mehta’s book Maximum City.

Maria shot to fame in 1993 when he got involved in the serial blasts investigation by sheer coincidence. Posted as DCP (Traffic) at the time, he cracked the case with the recovery of an explosives-laden scooter in Dadar and an abandoned Maruti van in Worli.

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He has since been DCP (Crime), Commissioner of Railways and Special IGP (Training). Maria is credited with introducing psychological profiling of policemen prior to giving them postings.

Following the 7/11 serial blasts in 2006, there were demands from different quarters to get Maria in for investigations. On June 14 last year, he was appointed head of the Crime Branch, and has roped in many officers with good networks from other branches.

Maria is known for his ability to extract information from suspects during interrogation, and for his ability to recall the dates of arrests, licence plate numbers and other details for cases going back several years.

Maria also continues to have friends in Bollywood. While shooting for A Wednesday, Anupam Kher ‘studied’ Maria as he went about his work.

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Explaining his success, Maria says: “Crime investigation should be a passion. You should enjoy it immensely. Once you treat it as a job, you cannot achieve anything.”

Debris found in Dal Lake could be from missile Pak fired during Op Sindoor

India12 min ago

Debris believed to be from a missile fired by Pakistan during Operation Sindoor in May has been found in Srinagar's Dal Lake. The debris has been handed over to the Air Force for further investigation. Sources say the target may have been a military installation in Srinagar, which is close to the lake. The make of the missile is yet to be determined.

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