I have been totally misquoted: IPS officer Maria clarifies his comment on Sheena Bora murder case

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India]: Clarifying his statement on the Sheena Bora Murder Case that led to chaos a day before, Director-General of Home Guards and former Police Commissioner of Mumbai Rakesh Maria today said he was totally misquoted on his comment and it can be verified with the respective journalist. He retired today after 36 years of service in Maharashtra Police. “I have been totally misquoted. The journalist is sitting here at the moment and you can ask him what I had exactly said,” he said addressing a press brief here. “I’ll repeat what I had said. I said that the arrested accused and the suspects were rich and influential and were capable of hiring the best of advocates for themselves. Hence, to counter that, our prosecution team also needed a good legal team right from the remand stage,” he added. Earlier, a day before he retired from the police force, Maria was allegedly quoted as saying that rich and influential people suppressed the Sheena Bora murder case for more than three years. In the case, Sheena’s mother Indrani Mukerjea and former media baron Peter Mukerjea were among those who were arrested. The IPS Officer had also lamented that cops who investigated the murder case did not get their due credit. This disclosure led to a controversy in media circles leading up to Maria’s clarification in a press briefing. Maria also said that it had been a very satisfying innings and he was very grateful and thankful to the seniors in the department and the government. The noted IPS officer rose to fame with the cracking of 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case. He was also widely praised for his probe on the 26/11 terror attacks. Alleged of taking ‘undue’ interest in the Sheena Bora murder case, Maria was transferred in September 2015, few days before his tenure as Mumbai Police Commissioner was to end. (ANI)