Well, I "think" you can do that in maya directly with an OptiFX light effect tweaked to look like that.

Also, and I would suggest first, doing it in your compositing app.

2d LensFlare plugins/filters are more controllable, and look better in most cases, when done the 2D route.

If you have After Effects, the basic lensflare filter can do this, I believe, but a Plugin called Knoll Lens Flare will do just that.

Another way would be to just paint the flare in in Photoshop, and in your compositor track where you want the falre to go, and apply that data to your "flare" layer, and just key rotation, blend-mode, and opacity to taste