Let Me Say It Now by Rakesh Maria, IPS (retd.) : A Review

What do you do when you find yourself enmeshed by scores of spurious allegations pinpointing you? What do you do when you find yourself deep in a conspiratorial quagmire, where your own existence, integrity, morality is highly affected - taking a toll not only on you, but also on your near and dear ones? Do you keep mum, being a calm, composed and mature person - hoping ignorance will sew things up, or do you react to it? If you react, how do you do it? Do you vehemently oppose everything that had been thrown on you, or do you strike a balance between being polite and being firm? Do you write a book, or do you post on social media, or make a video about the whole fiasco that’s being untangled? What exactly do you do?

These were the exact thoughts which have been bugging me since I finished reading the autobiographical memoir, ‘Let Me Say it Now’, of a venerated IPS (retd.) officer and the ex top-cop of Mumbai police, Rakesh Maria. I have always taken a keen interest in administration - both civil and police, so this was indeed a must-read for me. Somehow this magnum opus of him, despite coming out in 2020, had missed my radar. Anyway, better late than never is the consolation I can provide myself with. 

The title aptly evinces that the auteur has something to ‘say’, to share with the audience that we readers are, and the time is ripe ‘now’ - which further betokens that he could not have done it before, as something must have prevented him from doing so. What could it possibly be? Well, evidently, his professional liability. The conditions and conventions of Mr. Maria’s service warrant a certain level of secrecy and confidentiality, which if not followed will jeopardise a lot of things. Hence, he committed himself to penning this only after he officially retired from the service, being a responsible person and policeman.

Simply put, the book is completely unputdownable. Picking up a 614-page book would be extremely challenging for me, thought I; however, from the very beginning, I was glued onto the pages. So much so that I flipped the pages till 5 AM today until the book was finished! 

Memoirs have a tendency to be blemished with an unnecessary amount of personal accounts and self-congratulatory narcissistic narrative. Obviously, everyone is the protagonist of his or her own life, so this is quite instinctive. However, one has to keep in mind while writing a memoir that it also requires to be neutral to a certain extent and engaging. Rakesh Maria, despite not being a seasoned author to the best of my knowledge, has mastered the art of this. His memoir, hence, is almost an unbiased account, albeit being dictated from his own POV. A book spanning 35 chapters, there are as little as possible mentions of his personal life - his family, his childhood etc. There ARE mentions of it, though. But, being an experienced civil servant, he does possess one great quality - balance. Hence, the accounts are extremely reticent and assiduously crafted, so as to give the reader an idea of his personal life, but to an extent that his personal life remained PERSONAL throughout. That is extremely commendable for someone to achieve in his maiden venture. 

In his illustrious career spanning 30 odd years, Rakesh Maria, being an IPS officer of the Maharashtra cadre has handled many important posts - Deputy Commissioner of Police (Detection), Crime Branch, Mumbai Police; Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch, Mumbai Police; Commissioner of Police, Mumbai Police Commissionerate to name a few. What makes his account quite an intriguing one is his involvement in several cases that made it into the headlines for days, months, years on end and was of severe national as well as international importance. For example, 1993 Mumbai Serial Blasts - the first instance of Urban Terrorism that was played along the fault lines of religion and fissured the infamous Mumbai underworld; arrest of Sanjay Dutt for keeping illegal arms in possession under the TADA Act (in connection with the Mumbai serial blasts); arresting the infamous Mumbai underworld don Arun Gawli aka ‘Daddy’; crackdown of the Indian Mujahideen modules which were responsible for terror attacks and several blasts during the mid-2000s; the Sheena Bora murder case, the extremely sensitive and high-profile case during his tenure as the CP, Mumbai which (allegedly) caused his early promotion to DG, Home Guards so that he is (allegedly) removed from this case - and this deserves a separate discussion which I do not wish to indulge into for the sake of the future readers; and, obviously, the 2008 Mumbai Attacks, aka ‘26/11’. 

This voluminous work has been meticulously divided into different chapters in a manner that every incident or case gets due representation as per their proportional importance. Every detection, every chase, every mystery is so vividly painted that it becomes quite inclusive. The use of words, phrases, lucidity and his command of the language is something I am extremely in awe of, in all honesty. Mind you, this book is not penned by someone who is a regular columnist, an established author. Such an enjoyable read coming from someone who is deft in drafting chargesheets, crime reports, briefings and legal papers, is something that should take one aback. However, the only con that I can think of is delving into too many details and nitty-gritties of a case, which might be difficult to keep a track on for a regular reader who is not used to such accounts. 

Truth be told, I do not want to discuss what’s inside the book. The onus is on the readers to read and find out for themselves. It’s all about narratives - the side of the story that we are not privy to. The side of the story which needs to be told, for silence is not always golden.

Hence, let Mr. Maria say it now. 

PS: Will highly recommend this book. 

PPS: Thanks to maa for gifting me this book. 😊