Sheena Bora with Rahul Mukerjea.
Celebrated officer
Rakesh Maria's exit as Mumbai Police Commissioner appears to have had an impact on the
Sheena Bora murder investigation that he headed with a zeal questioned by his critics.
Going by the signs, it is set to become just another murder case and not the high profile inquiry that saw a police commissioner himself interrogating the accused.
Indrani Mukerjea, the media executive accused of killing her daughter Sheena Bora in 2012, and her alleged accomplices, former husband Sanjeev Khanna and a driver, were all interrogated by Mr Maria for long hours.
In his last official briefing on Monday before he was moved out, Mr Maria had said that Indrani Mukerjea's husband, TV tycoon Peter Mukerjea, was being questioned about his finances and those of INX Media, the company he co-founded with his wife.
The government said it would issue a special notification to allow Rakesh Maria to monitor the probe even after his transfer to Home Guards, but sources close to him say he is simply not interested. After a new posting he has never looked back, say sources, and he will follow the same principle this time.
Experts question whether it would be feasible for the probe team to report to Mr Maria only for the Sheena Bora case.
On Tuesday, the new commissioner Ahmed Javed, asked whether he would show the same level of personal involvement as his predecessor, said: "The probe will progress like any other case. It is team work and who interrogates the accused is a question that will be handled in a manner that's professional."
At the Khar Police Station, the nerve-centre of the Sheena Bora investigation, there is a marked difference.
There are no visits from the police chief, no television crew and no marathon interrogation sessions. Top officers who till last week were focused on the case were attending meetings on security for the Ganpati festival on Thursday.
The core team handling the probe, all of whom have worked under Mr Maria earlier, say with the accused in police custody, a major part of the investigation is over.