Kavita Karkare and Smita Salaskar, the widows of slain Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare and encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar, on Monday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and apprised her of problems they face. Both Karkare and Salaskar died while fighting terrorists during the Mumbai terror attack.
Two of the five alleged Indian Mujahideen operatives behind bars in connection with 13/7 bomb blasts case were on Monday arrested in a motorcycle theft case, a senior Anti-Terrorism Squad official said.
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad has arrested a close associate of Indian Mujahideen's elusive chief operative Yasin Bhatkal in connection with the 13/7 serial bomb blasts case, taking the total number of arrests to five.
Two alleged Indian Mujahideen operatives, who provided vehicles used in 2008 serial blasts in Gujarat that killed 56 and wounded over 200, have been arrested by Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad.
In a bid to get clues on the latest serial blasts in Mumbai, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad and the Mumbai Crime Branch have questioned a number of people including two arrested Indian Mujahideen operatives, and those having links with underworld gangs and other anti-social elements. "A number of people have been questioned so far but the exact figure we cannot tell you. Those questioned include two IM members who were recently arrested," said an ATS official.
The Bombay high court on Wednesday berated the Maharashtra government for not appointing a new special public prosecutor (SPP) to represent it in the appeals arising from the 2006 Mumbai serial train blasts case.
Investigators probing the acts of terror allegedly carried out by right-wing groups at Malegaon, Ajmer and Hyderabad are now looking for one Swami Aseemanand and his accomplice.The police have been looking for Swami Aseemanand since the Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad arrested Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur in October 2009 in connection with the Malegaon blasts. The ATS had picked up incriminating intercepts of his conversation with the Sadhvi.
The Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad on Thursday arrested a man in Jammu and Kashmir for his alleged links with Junaid Mohammed, who is accused of recruiting terrorists for the banned outfit Lashkar-e-Tayiba, an official said.
Pragya will undergo brain-mapping, polygraph and lie detector tests at Forensic Science Laboratory in suburban Santa Cruz, ATS Director Rukmani Krishnamurthy said. The Nashik court had permitted the ATS to conduct these psychological tests on Sadhvi.
Pakistan has asked India to provide the eye-witness account of the police constable, Arun Jadhav, who was the lone survivor of the attack on the car carrying Anti-Terrorism Squad Chief Hemant Karkare on the first day of Mumbai attack, saying its investigators probing the terror strike needed to examine it, the Dawn website reported.
The Mumbai police was aware of its mistake much before it came to light. They knew that it was a highly sensitive issue so they made a tremendous effort to locate the jacket.
S M Mushrif says, in this brief interaction with rediff.com, that he would not allow the issue of Karkare's death to die down unless and until the matter is probed.
The Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad has undertaken massive combing operations across several districts of Maharshtra, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka.
Three suspected members of terror group Hizbul Mujahideen, who are believed to have come from Pakistan via Nepal, were on Tuesday detained by an anti-terrorism squad of Jammu and Kashmir police at the railway station in Jammu, police sources said.
'They don't communicate on the telephone. They meet. The conspiracy is discussed, the crime is planned out and then the crime happens.' Rakesh Maria, the supercop who heads Maharashtra's Anti Terrorism Squad, explains the mindset of the modern terrorist at the Times Literary Festival. A correspondent listens in.
As the Uttar Pradesh police continue to quiz four persons in connection with the Agra hospital blast case there are very few indications for now to suggest that it was an act of terror. Sources informed that Saturday's blast could also be the fallout of a rivalry between local nursing homes and the privately-owned Jai Hospital.
Maharashtra government on Thursday appointed senior Indian Police Service officer K P Raghuvanshi as the chief of Anti-Terrorism Squad hours after the Bombay High Court pulled up the authorities over the crucial body remaining headless since the killing of Hemant Karkare in terror attacks in Mumbai last November.
Maharashtra Director General of Police Sanjay Pandey has posted a message on his Facebook page about two posts of superintendents in the Anti-Terrorism Squad lying vacant, and invited aspirants to approach the department or contact him through the social media.
The Maharashtra Director General of Police D Sivanandan has admitted that the investigations by the state Anti-Terrorism Squad into the February 13 German Bakery terror attack have gone wrong.
The Indian Coast Guard along with the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad apprehended a fishing boat, carrying eight Pakistani nationals and 30 kg of heroin, near Kutch district's Jakhau coast on Thursday, an official statement said.
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), which arrested Pune blast prime suspect Abdul Samad Bhatkal, is probing the possible nexus between underworld and terror outfit Indian Mujahideen (IM) in the case.
Authorities of the Mumbai police had to protect Ajmal Kasab, the sole Pakistani terrorist arrested during the November 26 attack on the city, not only from the angry public, but even "from within the (police) department," Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Rakesh Maria said on Monday. "There was a lot of public anger. The dept had lost some of the best officers (during the attack), so we had to protect Kasab from within dept because there was anger in the department," said Maria.
The home ministry has postponed a meeting of top police and civil officials of all states scheduled for March 9 to end the logjam on the National Counter Terrorism Centre and it will now be held on March 12.
Yaseen Bhatkal, a distant relative of Indian Mujhahideen founder Riyaz Bhatkal, has been named the mastermind of the Pune blast by Maharashtra's Anti-Terrorism Squad. A blast in German bakery, one of the city's most popular eateries, had left 17 people dead and many more injured on February 13. Yaseen hails from the coastal town of Bhatkal in Karnataka and has been involved in terror activities since 1998, say sources in the Intelligence Bureau.
Hindu right-wing activist Swami Aseemanand, an accused in several terror cases, has moved a court seeking to withdraw his application to turn a witness in the Ajmer Dargah blast case even as the Rajasthan Anti-Terrorism Squad on Friday said it is planning to file a chargesheet against him on April 8.
The revelations came during scientific tests carried out on them.
The Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad has seized over 7 kg of natural uranium worth about Rs 21.30 crore and arrested two persons in this connection, an official said on Thursday.
The National Investigation Agency, which was formed to investigate cases relating to terrorism, was not roped in for the investigation into the Pune blast.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 35,000 on him.
The National Investigation Agency has contradicted findings of the Anti Terrorism Squad and the Central Bureau of Investigation in its chargesheet filed Wednesday in the Malegoan blast case of 2006.
The bulletproof jacket worn by slain Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare during 26/11 terror attacks has gone missing, wife of the slain officer has alleged, raising serious questions on the manner in which evidentially materials were preserved.
Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad would seek the custody of 26/11 Mumbai attacks handler Abu Jundal after Delhi police finish their probe, State Home Minister R R Patil said on Thursday.
The claim by Maharashtra's Anti-Terrorism Squad about presence of RDX in the 2007 Samjhauta train blast has flummoxed investigators, who probed the attack, as forensic analysis had shown no signs of the deadly explosive being used in the terror strike that left 68 people dead.
Investigators are on the verge of cracking the July 13 Mumbai blasts case, Maharashtra Director General of Police Ajit Parasnis on Sunday said and hoped "very soon things will come out". His remark came a day after he stated the terror group responsible for the blasts had been identified.
The special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act Court in Mumbai allowed the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad to interrogate two accused in connection with the last week's Hyderabad blasts on Monday.
The Maharashtra police has identified the culprits of the February 13 terror attack on the German Bakery in Pune, said Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil on Tuesday.
The Bombay high court said on Tuesday it was satisfied with the measures adopted by anti-terrorism squad police in connection with the alleged conspiracy to murder Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat.
Maharashtra's Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Rakesh Maria and six senior Indian Police Service officers will face a Central Bureau of Investigation probe for allegedly shielding a fellow police official, who was accused of clearing his law exam, without appearing for practical exam, the Bombay high court ordered on Monday.
The low-intensity blast in Pune on Friday that left five people injured was "prima facie" a terror attack, Maharashtra ATS said today and registered a case against unknown persons in connection with the incident.
Four alleged Indian Mujahideen operatives, already in Delhi police custody, were on Thursday arrested in connection with Pune serial blasts and remanded in police custody until January 1, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad said.