MUMBAI -- Rakesh Maria, a baggy-eyed 50-year-old cop whose investigative skills have inspired at least one Bollywood movie, is in the spotlight again as lead investigator into last week's terror attacks.

The city's crime branch chief -- his title is Mumbai joint commissioner of police -- is in charge of building the case against the lone suspect captured alive in the gun and grenade assaults that killed 171 people.

Rakesh Maria, Mumbai's top cop DNA-Daily News & Analysis

He must also try to extract enough information to prevent new strikes on a city rattled and bitter over the government's inability to protect the populace. Greater Mumbai, population 18 million, is home to India's richest men, its hot Bollywood film industry and a thriving criminal underworld. Yet most of the city's poorly paid cops are armed with nothing more than bamboo canes.

"One part of the investigation is to find out who did it," Mr. Maria said in an interview. "But another is to find out how something like this can be prevented."

Mr. Maria declined to discuss details of his investigation. But people familiar with the probe say the Mumbai police are considering an unusual tactic: administering a truth serum to the surviving suspect, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab.

Mr. Kasab is one of 10 terrorists who police say arrived by boat from Pakistan to attack the city's luxury hotels, historic railway station and a local Jewish center. He was captured in a shootout at a police checkpoint. Police and commandos killed the rest of the alleged assailants.

So far in the interrogation, police say, Mr. Kasab has been talking, and his story checks out. But, said Deven Bharti, Mr. Maria's deputy, "We have certain information we are looking to clarify." So police are planning to administer sodium pentothal to put Mr. Kasab in a trance-like state as soon as next week.

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."

The son of a Bollywood producer, Mr. Maria grew up with the Indian cinema. And it has stayed with him through his police work. His investigation of the 1993 Mumbai bombing attacks, which left more than 250 people dead, helped shape the Bollywood movie "Black Friday." In the film, a character by his name roughly interrogates one of the prime suspects.

Ill-Prepared Police

Mr. Maria insists that scenes of smacking around suspects portrayed in books and films -- based on his police work -- aren't accurate or useful. "Just beating and torture doesn't get you answers, or at least answers that will stand up," Mr. Maria said in the interview, waving his hand dismissively. "You need more. You need psychology."

Police guard the Jewish center attacked by gunmen last week as part of the Mumbai terror assaults that left 171 people dead. On Wednesday, police discovered two bombs left behind by the attackers at the city's main rail station. Getty Images

In the wake of last week's attacks, Mr. Maria has spent his days holed up in his office at the Mumbai police headquarters, a collection of big stone buildings with mildewed balustrades.

Through balmy afternoons, reporters and television cameras await new information on the case. Police clerks shuffle into offices with files or fresh cups of milky tea. Mr. Maria sits behind a big desk, under bright fluorescent lights in bracing air-conditioned comfort. He wears dark slacks, a striped, buttoned-down shirt and speaks British-accented English in even tones.

Still, for all the skilled detective work after the attacks, police and government have come under withering public criticism for not doing enough to keep the city safe. Mumbai police appeared flat-footed when the attacks occurred. In the first hours of last week's machine-gun and grenade attacks, police responded with pistols, bamboo canes and Lee-Enfield rifles -- the type British troops used in World War I.

The subsequent responses haven't reassured the public, either. Metal detectors set up at train stations after the 2006 bombings are mostly abandoned now because they caused such long lines. On Wednesday, police found a bomb at Mumbai's main train station that had been left by the attackers. The next day, police discovered an unexploded hand grenade near a hospital.

Indian police have blamed the 2006 commuter-train attack and the most recent multipronged assault on the Pakistani-based militant outfit, Lashkar-e-Taiba.

'For the Dignity'

Mr. Maria was educated at Mumbai's elite St. Xavier's College. His family and friends reacted in disbelief when he told them he had passed examinations for the Indian Police Service instead of going for more prestigious work. He wanted to join, he says, "for the dignity and discipline of the uniform."

He rose through the ranks, and after the 1993 bombing investigation received a police medal for his service. Mr. Maria's work also has led to the arrest of Bollywood stars, such as Sanjay Dutt. Last year, Mr. Dutt was sentenced to six years in prison for possessing weapons supplied by men convicted in the 1993 Mumbai bombings. The actor has appealed the sentence in a higher court and has been released on bail. Mr. Dutt couldn't be reached for comment.

In his spare time, Mr. Maria practices taekwondo and is president of the martial arts association for Maharashtra state. The mixture of glitz and grit has earned him a place in fiction.

Novelist Vikram Chandra, who hung around with Mr. Maria to research his popular Mumbai gangster epic "Sacred Games," says he came away impressed. "I went a little native," notes Mr. Chandra. "He's a fine officer and a smart guy."

In investigations, Mr. Maria is known for taking copious notes in handwritten English, which help him pull together disparate bits of information. License plates, criminal histories and the comings and goings of key witnesses form the narrative of a crime, his current and former colleagues say.

Subhash Malhotra, a retired Mumbai police commissioner, recalls dictating a list of questions in one investigation, only to have Mr. Maria immediately reel off answers.

"He gets deep into any case he has," says Mr. Malhotra, who was police commissioner in the late 1990s. "He won't stop at just one or two clues."

Another trademark technique: leading suspects to believe police know much more than they do. After an Indian actress, Maria Susairaj, instituted a missing-persons case concerning a television executive, Mr. Maria says he told her: "You are my No. 1 suspect." Stunned, the 28-year old confessed to helping her sailor boyfriend chop up and dispose of the man, whom the boyfriend allegedly killed in a jealous rage.

Ms. Susairaj's lawyer says a court hearing is set for Dec. 15, and she will plead not guilty to charges of murder, conspiracy and destruction of evidence.

Mr. Bharti, Mr. Maria's deputy, called work on the case "beautiful detection" because the crime team found small but significant contradictions in the suspects' stories.

—Eric Bellman and Tariq Engineer in Mumbai contributed to this article.

Write to Peter Wonacott at and Geeta Anand at