Keeping news of Ajmal Kasab hanging under wraps was biggest challenge: Amitabh Rajan

The state has seen uproar over murder of Dr Dhabholkar and killings of a Dalit family in Javkheda. Do you think the police were unable to handle these cases properly, resulting in the demand for a CBI probe?
Dhabholkar murder case probe had many negative points. It was a daylight killing and was not a general murder and the assailants were on a moving vehicle. The CCTV footage was unclear to give us enough leads. I would certainly say that there was a credibility gap on the part of the investigators as far as this case is concerned. It is unfortunate that we could not detect the case. In case of Javkheda killings, I had met with collector, district magistrate and superintendent of police and took review of the investigation. I found the police were probing in the right direction and the its outcome shows that.

The Maharashtra police have a background of not properly handling terror-related cases. What would you say on this?
We are handling terror-related cases in a proper manner. I feel that analysis of strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats should be done. We need to learn from earlier lessons and look forward towards what new can be done.

A survey by the director general of police had found that Gadhchiroli and some areas of Gondia are heavily infested by Naxals. What measures is the government taking to eradicate Naxalism from the state?
Now we also get funding from the centre in the form of police modernisation, area development scheme and security related expenditure for cops and para military forces. Earlier, Naxals were widespread in areas such as Bhandara, Nanded, Chandrapur. Gradually their presence declined in other areas. But due to lack of political will, the funds were still being used in those areas. Now with declaration of Gadhchiroli and some parts of Gondia being naxal infested, the resources will be utilised only in these areas. We have sent a proposal to the new government in this regard.

You have served for three years as ACS home. What were toughest moments for you to handle?
The toughest moment was keeping Operation X i.e. hanging of Ajmal Kasab under the wraps. Had people learnt about his shifting from Arthur Road jail to Pune, there could have been negative reactions. There were inputs that efforts could be made by terrorists to set him free as he had become a status symbol for them. We managed to keep the entire operation secret and follow due procedures to hang Kasab. The other tough moment was when Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray passed away. Fortunately, nothing untoward happened.

We face a huge threat from cyber criminals. How equipped are we to tackle cybercrime?
We are one of the best at handling cybercrime cases. We are doing good, but much more is required. We have asked the government to increase the number of cybercrime cells across the state.