In a sudden twist, the Maharashtra government on Friday decided to transfer the Sheena Bora murder probe to CBI after days of uncertainty on the supervisory role of former Mumbai police chief Rakesh Maria who was shunted in the midst of the inquiry that he had helmed proactively.
In what is seen as a snub to Mumbai's top cops, the decision for a probe free from "prejudices" was announced at a press conference by Additional Chief Secretary (Home) K P Bakshi who said that financial angle of the case has also been taken into account in transferring the probe to the central investigation agency.
He also said the Government was "disturbed" by media reports that linked Maria's transfer to the investigation in the case.
Stating that the government wants to "ensure" people are convinced that the government has no interest to interfere in the case, Bakshi said that on the other hand it was also keen on a probe free from prejudices. The decision was taken after consulting Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, he said.
"In the last few days, the previous Mumbai CP(Maria) was promoted and transferred and a new officer(Ahmad Javed) was put in his place. All this while, the Sheena Bora investigation was also going on. A section of the media has put all this together and inferred that the transfers happened because of the case," Bakshi said.
"Government was disturbed with reports that linked this case to the transfers. The CM was in Japan and then we were busy with the President's event in Nagpur and the launching of Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and System (CCTNS) then. Hence I did not get enough time to talk to the CM on the case. But now, I have spoken to the CM at length and to show we have no intention of interfering with the case, we have decided to transfer the case to the CBI," he said.
He said that the state government had asked for a "status report" from the Director General of Police a couple of days back and based on the contents of the report has concluded that the case is not limited to murder alone, but there are many questions on financial dealings that remain unanswered.
"After we studied the report, we concluded that the case is not limited to murder alone but many economic issues on financial dealings are still unanswered. We want the truth to come out and thus, I have spoken to officials from the Union government and the CBI and thereby transferred the case to them. It is now upto the Union government to accept our request and direct the CBI to take over the case," he said.
Bakshi said that the government is willing to assist the CBI in all possible measures.
Sheena was murdered on April 24, 2012, and her body was burnt and disposed of in the forest in Raigad district the next day.
Apart from Sheena's mother Indrani, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and driver Shyamver Rai were arrested in the case and are now in judicial custody after being interrogated for 14 days by police.
Maria, who personally interrogated the accused and others including Indrani's husband Peter Mukerjea, was shunted from the post earlier this month by promoting him as DG (Home Guards) and brought in DG-rank officer Ahmad Javed in his place.
The Government, however, announced the same evening that Maria will continue to supervise the probe in the case, though it dragged on defining the actual role of the high profile officer who was reportedly unwilling to take up the responsibility. Javed was also reported to have admitted that he knew the Mukerjeas socially.
Bakshi also said that the state government did not see the Sheena Bora case a "high-profile murder" case. "There is no such thing as a low or high profile murder. A murder is a murder," he added.
On the status report submitted by DGP Sanjeev Dayal, Bakshi said that the investigation is almost completed by the local police and since all the accused are in judicial custody no further questioning of them would be possible.
"Also, for now, we feel no new arrests are warranted. The CBI will now go deep and investigate the loose threads, along with the financial angle. If the agency feels that more people need to be questioned upon preliminary investigation, they will summon whoever is required," he said.
Bakshi said the DG's status report does not talk of "sabotage" by any of the investigating officer of the Sheena Bora murder probe and that a decision was taken only after talking to the previous and the incumbent Mumbai CP.
Asked about the involvement of a senior Raigad police officer in allegedly botching up the case in 2012, Bakshi said, "The officer could have been involved, but, the DG is inquiring into this as well. Once he submits a report will we be able to say for certain if there were vested interests."
"I have taken the DG's valuable suggestion and have spoken to the CM in detail about this case. We feel that this case should not be dealt with any past or present police officer or by any state government agency. We want to send out a message that we have no intention of interfering in the case. Also since there are several angles involved, and to make sure the investigation is done impartially, we decided to transfer the case to the CBI," Bakshi said.
Striking a cautious note, political parties including the Congress refrained from making any immediate comment on the development, though they were taken by surprise by the decision.
