Rakesh Maria, Ajmal Kasab and 'Hindu' terror: Much ado about nothing

Former Mumbai Police Commissioner and retired IPS officer Rakesh Maria is back making headlines. Throughout his career as a policeman, Maria was one of the most talked about officers from the Maharashtra Police. He unearthed and handled some of the biggest cases in Mumbai over a period of 28 years. These included investigating the 1993 Mumbai blasts case, busting a module of the Indian Mujahideen in 2008 and solving the high profile Neeraj Grover murder case.

Now, Maria is back in the news, thanks to his recently published autobiography. Two cases are particularly in focus. The first is the 2012 Sheena Bora murder case during the investigation of which Maria got marching orders as the commissioner of Mumbai Police and was promoted to director general of home guards. Maria talks extensively about how taken aback he was at the abrupt transfer and reveals his version of events.

However, it is another case that Maria investigating that has caused a lot of (arguably unnecessary) controversy -- the deadly 26/11 Mumbai terror attack. In his book, Maria has written in detail about his role during the attack. At the time, he was the joint commissioner (crime) in Mumbai. During the attacks, Maria took control of the Mumbai Police's control room. Later, he investigated the terror attack.

CONTROVERSY RETURNS

In his autobiography, Rakesh Maria has recounted his time investigating the 26/11 terror attack. And, thanks to a cursory reading of his account, controversy is back to hound him. First, let's look at what prompted the controversy.

Maria in his book writes about how the conspiracy was hatched in Pakistan and how ten youngsters were prepared to attack Mumbai by the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Maria writes that the youngsters were given a new identity before the attack.

Maria writes, 'Soon their hair was cut and beards shaved off, new clothes and shoes were purchased for them and they were given watches set to Indian time. The labels on their clothes were removed to prevent identification... New photographs were clicked to make fake identity cards to pass them off as Indian Hindus. To complete Hindu impersonation, they were instructed not to forget tying the red sacred thread around their wrists.'

Elaborating on the conspiracy, Maria writes, 'If all had gone well he [Ajmal Kasab, the only one of the ten terrorists to be caught alive] would have been dead with a red string tied around his wrist like a Hindu. We would have found an identity card on this person with fictitious name Samir Dinesh Choudhari, student of Arunoday Degree and P.G College.' Maria goes on to take a jibe at the media that there would have been screaming headlines in newspapers about how 'Hindu' terrorists had attacked Mumbai and 'over-the-top' TV journalists would have made a beeline to interview the "Hindu terrorist's" family and neighbours.

Of course Maria doesn't mention that it probably would have been one of his subordinates who would have leaked the information about the 'Hindu terrorists' to the media. Anyway, the point is that Maria's "revelations" have generated a controversy.

The BJP was the first to react, with a Union minister asking why Maria was speaking up now. The minister tied it to the term 'Hindu terror' that was in popular usage during the UPA era and said it was a big conspiracy hatched by the Congress on the instructions of then home minister Chidambaram.

NEEDLESS CONTROVERSY

Interestingly, Marria's "revelations" are nothing new. The information about the fake ID cards is part of the chargesheet filed in the 26/11 terror attack case. However, what is even more interesting is that Maria's own book contradicts the suggestion that the LeT planned to portray 26/11 as an act of 'Hindu terrorism'.

In his book, Maria gives details about a telephonic conversation between one of the ten terrorists and his handler back in Pakistan. The conversation was being tapped by Indian agencies. Maria writes, 'In the meanwhile the handlers and the gunmen started working on using some of the hostages to make demands on the government of India as was planned, through live TV interviews "

During the conversation -- which is also part of the chargesheet -- the handler tells the terrorist that if he was asked about his organisation, he was to say that he was associated with the Deccan Mujahideen. Here is a part of the conversation:

Handler: They will ask you what your demand is.

Terrorists: Yes.

Handler: You first say, release all the Muslims in jail.

Now, Maria's book on the one hand say that if all had gone according to the LeT's plan, Kasab would have been dead with red string tied around his wrist and an ID card identifying him as Hindu. On the other hand, the book also gives details of a conversation that indicates the terrorists were planning to demand the release of Muslims prisoners. This clearly defies logic! It is also important to note that Maria's book doesn't explicitly say that there any plan to show 26/11 as a 'Hindu' terror conspiracy.

It's ironic that Maria, who was known for very point-to-point briefings about his investigations, has ended up creating unnecessary confusion. The stories that have been reported extensively 10 years ago are creating controversies that are nonexistent.