‘There’s a constant threat of lone wolf attacks’

INTERVIEW: RAKESH MARIA

Asastudent,rakeshmariaread‘a Marshall For Lawless’, a novel featuring John Glyde, a gun-slinging law enforcer in a town named Lawless, set in the American wild west.bythetimetheyoungmaria turned the last page, he knew he would become a policeman. Now 60 and set to retire on January 31 as Director General of Home Guards,theformercitypolicecommissioner and ATS chief remains one of Mumbai’s most high-profilepolicemen.excerptsfromaninterview with RASHMI RAJPUT.

You come from a film background, what made you join the police force?

I was a studious child, a favourite of my principal and teachers, I was made the class monitorandwouldtakemyjobof maintaining decorum in the class very seriously. I grew up reading crime novels and thrillers, they fascinated me.

Bombay is now Mumbai. The crime scene has witnessed a sea change. What are the changes you have seen?

When I joined the stress was more on ‘traditional crimes’ such as robbery, dacoity, housebreaking. The 1980s-90s were dominated by the underworld. The 1993serialblastswasawatershed forus.whentheblaststookplace, our initial assessment was that it was the handiwork of the underworld. However, I recall interrogating Dawood Phanse (an agent in charge of landing RDX at Shrivardhan in Raigad). He was the first to reveal that young boys from Mumbai were imparted weapons training in Dubai by underworld criminal Dawood Ibrahim. Pakistan’s ISI had used Dawood to carry out the blasts in India. The blasts also left the underworld divided on communal lines. Urban terrorism was now a reality and the local police had to evolve and equip itself with the rising challenge. Today there is a constantthreatofattacksbylonewolf attackers who are indoctrinated online.

What about the Bollywoodunderworld nexus and does it still exist?

In the past, there was a nexus. The dons used to even come to give a clap for mahurat shots. Being seen with the dons was considered a status symbol. Now, with big corporates, those shady elements are as good as over.

Any case you regret not detecting?

I would say the Dr Narendra Dabholkar murder case. While ATS was never formally given the investigation in the case, we were parallelly probing it.

What are your takeaways from the 26/11 attack?

November 2008 is another watershed. The conspiracy, planning, training everything took place on foreign soil. When police inspector Ramesh Mahale prepared a 55-page synopsis in Marathi, I sat down late night translating it into English to ensure that there are no errors. The case ended in a conviction and it was a sense of victory for me and my team.

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