Maigret and the Idle Burglar

Is Chief-Inspector Maigret the only person concerned by the death of a thief?

A burglar is found battered to death on a mid-winter's night in Paris.  the victim was murdered, stripped of all ID and thrown from a car on to the icy streets, yet his criminal background has Maigret's superiors eager to dismiss the killing as an underworld vendetta. Certainly nothing the police should concern themselves with, especially when they are supposed to be on the trail of a gang of armed robbers.