According to a report in the UK Times Online, the Indian detective charged with cracking the 2008 Mumbai massacre has made some major breakthroughs. Rakesh Maria began working the case on the evening of November 26, while the carnage was still in progress. His first task was the interrogation of Azam Amir Kasab, the only gunman to be taken alive after he and an accomplice shot and killed 58 commuters at the city's Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station.

"In those first moments he was in our custody, I had just four questions," the 50-year-old detective told the Times. "How many terrorists? How well armed? What were their plans? How did they get here?" Maria soon got his answers. And since then, he has worked 15-hour days on the case. His mammoth investigation has generated an 11,000-page report, and explores the possibility of Pakistani state involvement in the massacre. Yet Maria stresses that his key source, Kasab, is a relatively small fish. "We have here a limb, not the brain, of this terrorist organization," he said.

It seems pretty clear that if you've got a suspect to interrogate, Maria is your man. He first made his reputation in 1993, when his investigation of a horrific bombing in Mumbai led to the conviction in absentia of gangster-turned-terrorist Tiger Memon. But there have been occasional questions about his methodology. Shortly after the November massacre, the Wall Street Journal ran a piece about Maria's ongoing interrogation of Kasab. According to the article, the police intended to goose the suspect's memory with some chemical assistance.

"Police are planning to administer sodium pentothal to put Mr. Kasab in a trance-like state as soon as next week," the Journal piece stated. "The practice, known as 'narco analysis' in India, is viewed with skepticism by many Western scientists and opposed by human-rights advocates, who argue that it violates the right against self-incrimination. Even many Indian courts disallow the testimony it produces. But it is not uncommon in high-profile cases here and has been used in other terrorism investigations, including the probe of the 2006 Mumbai train bombings that left 187 dead. Asked about the prospect of administering the serum on Mr. Kasab, Mr. Maria told reporters Thursday: 'If we need to, we'll do it.'"

With the interrogation scenes from Slumdog Millionaire fresh in their minds, many Americans may recoil at the use of such tactics. Maria himself has dismissed any similarity between what he does and what occurs on the big screen. As he told the Times, "Real interrogation never works like that. It's not as you see it in the films."

But the confusion is even more understandable because Maria, a famous and somewhat enigmatic figure in his homeland, has a longtime association with the Indian film industry. His father was a movie producer, and Maria has arrested some of Bollywood's more colorful figures, including Sanjay Dutt and Maria Susairaj. More to the point, he has inspired at least one Bollywood feature himself, Black Friday. In this 2004 production, Maria (played by Kay Kay Menon) cracks the 1993 Mumbai bombings. The film is an ensemble piece, cutting back and forth between the culprits and the police, but Maria--or at least his fictionalized double--is a heroic figure. And his interrogation techniques, on display in this clip from the movie, bear more than a passing resemblance to those used in Slumdog, not to mention Guantanamo Bay.


Still, India is relying on Maria to untangle the mystery of what exactly happened in Mumbai last November. His investigations will continue, even as his key witness turns out to be the subject of an unfolding assassination plot. (Concerns over the safety of Azam Amir Kasab have prompted Indian officials to build a special, bomb-proof corridor in the courtroom where he will be tried.) And he certainly has his share of fans. Novelist Vikram Chandra, whose humongous Sacred Games focused on the Mumbai underworld, followed the detective on his rounds to collect local color. He was duly impressed. "He's a fine officer," concluded Chandra, "and a smart guy."