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Geeta Seshu

Meet Meera Borwankar, Mumbai's first woman chief of Crime Branch... efficient, businesslike and media shy!

Mumbai's first woman chief of Crime Branch, Meera Borwankar, 46, is a photographer's delight. However, while shutterbugs revel in the image of the attractive police officer, scribes have been hard put to get a word out of the businesslike and circumspect cop.

To be a woman police officer in a force that has barely one or two per cent women is unique by itself but to head an investigative force of 300 police officers is definitely a first. Mumbai's Crime Branch is known as the premier department of the city's police force, investigating organised and white-collar crime, and in charge of law enforcement. While it didn't exactly cover itself with glory during the Mumbai riots in the early 1990s, it has had to deal with the operations of rival underworld gangs that are remote-controlled by Dawood Ibrahim, Chhota Rajan and the don-turned-politician Arun Gawli. It has had to grapple with criminal cases against big-time film financiers like Bharat Shah, the POTA (Prevention of Terrorist Act) case against Mohammad Afroz, and myriad encounters against gangsters by trigger-happy cops who call themselves `encounter specialists'. In recent months, the biggest damage has been done by the Telgi fake stamps scam that indicted several top cops including former police chief R.S. Sharma.

Perhaps in an effort to mitigate the controversy surrounding the post, Meera has maintained an extremely low profile since taking over in July 2004. "Strictly no interviews," her personal assistant says, as `Madam' wants to get to grips with her work before she talks to the media.

Years ago, when she was District Superintendent of Police, Satara, in Maharashtra, Meera was much more amenable, even naïve with the media. This writer who met her in Satara, recalls a surprisingly candid discussion with her on honesty and corruption in the police force. She said people around her often asked why she wasn't part of the hafta (weekly bribe) system. Today, corruption continues to be, perhaps even more than ever, a major issue in the police force and Meera has been chosen to stem the rot.

As Joint Commissioner of Police — Crime, she is no stranger to action, chalking up an impressive array of experiences in different departments of the police force. But she took charge at a juncture in Mumbai's police history when several senior officers of the force had been discredited for their involvement in the Telgi fake stamps scandal. At least 53 senior police officers (including a former police commissioner and a deputy commissioner of police) have been transferred or charge-sheeted.

Meera has done her Master's in English Literature. She graduated from Lyallpur Khalsa College and did her post-graduation from DAV College in Jalandhar, Punjab. Her father, O.P. Chadha, was with the Border Security Force.

She is married to Abhay Borwankar, who quit the Indian Administrative Service to start a food-processing business. In 1981, she became an IPS officer of the Maharashtra cadre, served as Deputy Commissioner of Police at Mumbai between 1987 and 1991, held independent charge of Aurangabad as DSP (and later of Satara in 1996-99) and was posted at the State CID crime branch in 1993-95. She worked with the Economic Offences Wing of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Mumbai and was DIG of the Anti-Corruption Bureau of the CBI in New Delhi.

Meera, who studied Policy Analysis in Law Enforcement at the University of Minnesota in the US, was awarded the President's Medal for meritorious service in 1997, apart from the police medal and the Director General's insignia she had received earlier.

Accolades came her way when she conducted a lengthy investigation into the infamous Jalgaon sex scandal in which local politicians were accused of luring young girls on the promise of jobs and loans for financial distress. They were blackmailing the girls with pictures of them in compromising positions. The case rocked the country and investigations were rendered almost impossible, as only a few of the girls were willing to lodge complaints, risking social stigma and retaliation. However, Meera managed to secure evidence from a few complainants based on which FIRs were filed against the politicians, Raju Tadvi and Pandit Sapkale. However, while the accused were convicted in lower courts, they secured acquittals in the High Court.

That is history. For the present, Meera faces many challenges. Mumbai's crime statistics are alarming: a crime rate of 177 per one lakh population (Delhi, however, tops the list with 385 per one lakh, according to the National Crime Records Bureau, 2003).

Her immediate concerns are the extradition of gangsters like Abu Salem and his partner Monica Bedi from Portugal, Iqbal Mirchi and Tariq Parvin from Dubai and Sharmila Shanbhag from Germany. Many feel Meera is on the right track: she is keeping a low profile unlike her predecessors (she doesn't like to be invited as chief guest for any social function) and is completely apolitical.

With poverty constantly pushing a burgeoning population to the brink and organised crime jostling for space with white-collar crime, this woman cop has her job cut out for her.

Women's Feature Service

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