A year after the Mumbai terror attacks in which its chief Hemant Karkare was killed, the Anti Terrorism Squad of the Maharashtra police is woefully short of staff even against its sanctioned level.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's office has assured film-maker Mahesh Bhatt that the Home Ministry will inquire into the "leak" of information relating to his son having known David Headley, a US terror suspect arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for plotting strikes in India. An agitated Bhatt had written a letter to Singh on November 15 in which the film-maker said he felt a sense of "great betrayal" over the manner in which his son was handled by investigators.
Vilas Warack, a gym instructor who met terror suspect David Coleman Headley along with filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt's son Rahul, was on Monday questioned by the National Investigation Agency, which is probing the Lashkar-e-Tayiba's plot to carry out major strikes in India. The agency recorded the statement of Warack on how he knew Headley, who was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States in October for planning attacks on the National Defence College.
American terror suspect David Headley had also stayed at Oberoi Trident besides the Taj -- the two hotels attacked on 26/11 -- before the Mumbai carnage, reinforcing suspicion of his link with the audacious strike, according to investigators on Friday.
The Mumbai terror attack was discussed during the State Banquet hosted by Queen Elizabeth in the honour of President Pratibha Patil, with the British monarch paying tributes to the 'courage and steadfastness' shown by the Indian people, in the face of the appalling incident."We are mindful that in a month's time, India will mark the anniversary of the appalling terrorist attacks on Mumbai, in which so many Indians were killed," the Queen said during the Banquet.
After critically examining the ship 'M V Mu San' at Kakinada port, a team of scientists from Kalapakkam nuclear centre concluded that they found no 'CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radioactive and Nuclear) traces' from the ship, which was detained by the Coast Guard off the Andaman waters in the first week of last month, official sources said in New Delhi.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who made a conditional resignation, skipped office and the assembly on Wednesday, awaiting the Governor's decision on his offer to quit.
In a confidential report, the Jammu and Kashmir police has accused moderate Hurriyat Conference leader Shabir Ahmed Shah of having links with Pakistan-based terror group Lashker-e-Tayiba. In the report to the state Home Department, the police have suggested some pro-active measures to curb the anti-national activities of separatist leaders and also slapped the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act against pro-Pakistan leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
The Home Minister, who is on a two-day visit to Orissa, met the victims living in relief camps set up after a series of communal clashes following the killing of 85-year-old VHP leader Swami Laxmananda Saraswati in August last year.
In the wake of increased Maoist activities, the Orissa Government has placed before the Centre a list of demands including young paramilitary officers to train its men, helicopters and grants for setting up a anti-Naxal training centre.
A high-level meeting on Thursday decided to review the deployment of Central Reserve Police Force in Jammu and Kashmir with Home Minister P Chidambaram saying the Centre would like the paramilitary forces to play only a secondary role in the border state.
The FBI made the request through proper channels for questioning Fahim Arshad Ansari and Sabbauddin, members of the banned Lashker-e-Taiba, who were brought to Mumbai in December last year as a follow up to the probe into the 26/11 attack, official sources said.
Omar Abdullah's nine-year old son Zahir, who accompanied his father on the victory lap in Ganderbal, instantly hit it off with the people, enjoying a new found celebrity status.
Omar, who began his political journey in the state from this assembly seat in 2002 elections, had been advised by some of his party men to choose another constituency in the backdrop of his previous poll debacle. National Conference had emerged as the largest party in the last polls with 28 seats in the 87-member House but chose to sit in opposition.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has reopened investigations into the 2006 Nanded blast, which is being seen as a key indicator of a Hindutva group's involvement in terror activities.
Twenty-one-year-old Iman, when captured from Chowpatty after the Wednesday's audacious attack, told interrogators that he had started his career as a petty thief in Lahore, where he was staying with his brother after dropping out from school in 2000.
During interrogation, Ajmal Amin Kasab, a militant arrested during the siege, said that they had boarded Al Husseni docked at a distance from Karachi port and were to be dropped near Mumbai waters, official sources said. Kasab, who hails from a poor family of Multan, Punjab, told investigators that they made a last minute decision to shift a Indian vessel to avoid detection by Indian Navy and Coast Guard.
Pakistan's former Federal Minister for Human Rights and Expert Advisor in the United Nations Human Rights Council at Geneva, Burney, who arrived in terror struck Mumbai in the wee hours of Sunday, wasted no time in showing his solidarity with India in its war against terrorism. "They are beast of jungles and killers of humanity," was Burney's instant reaction about the terror carnage in Mumbai that left 183 dead.
The two sniffer dogs of the National Security Guards (NSG) went about their task with diligence for about 15 hours during the encounter in the Nariman House along with their masters -- the commandos-- and are no strangers to life threatening situations.
The laptop, handed over by the Army after a week of Purohit's arrest, was examined at a forensic laboratory during which, the probe agencies, claimed that he was often visiting anti-Muslim and jihadi websites, sources attached with the investigations said. But, the investigators did not get details about the composition about the saffron outfit -- Abhinav Bharat -- whose cadres are alleged to be behind the blast in Malegaon on September 29 which they were looking for.
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