Maria to continue to oversee probe

Rakesh Maria has been promoted as DGP (Home Guards)

Rakesh Maria, the high-profile Mumbai Police Commissioner who interrogated the accused in the Sheena Bora murder case in an unusual action, was on Tuesday shunted out of the post and promoted as director general of police home guards.

However, after the sudden action created quite a flutter, the Maharashtra government climbed down in the evening and said he would continue to "supervise" the probe.

"The government has decided that the Sheena Bora case will be continued to be supervised by Rakesh Maria, irrespective of his elevation and transfer," Additional Chief Secretary (Home) K P Bakshi said.

On a day of high drama, Maria was replaced by Ahmed Javed, a DG-rank official, who took over as Mumbai police commissioner in the upgraded post. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had cleared both the appointments before he left for Japan on Monday night.

With questions raised over the timing of the transfer, and the heat it generated in the media, Chief Minister Fadnavis directed that Maria be retained to supervise the investigations.