Rich tributes were on Saturday paid to the 26/11 martyrs on the third anniversary of the Mumbai terror attacks by Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and a host of other leaders.
Months after the triple bombings rocked Mumbai on July 13 this year, most counter-terrorism experts were willing to shove the 13/7 investigations under the rug as 'yet another case with a dead end.' However, rediff.com's Toral Varia finds that the Anti-Terrorism Squad has successfully managed to join the dots by decoding the CCTV footage. Here are the EXCLUSIVE details.
Maharashtra's Anti-Terrorism Squad is grappling with a severe manpower crunch with 283 posts of the total 732 lying vacant, two-and-a-half years after a panel set up to probe state police's response to the Mumbai attacks recommended streamlining the force.
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.
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.
Arrested 26/11 key handler Abu Jundal was brought to Mumbai in the wee hours on Saturday after a Delhi court handed over his custody to Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad, which wanted him in connection with a series of terror attacks in Maharashtra.
A suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorist was arrested on Tuesday by Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad in connection with the 2011 serial bomb blasts in which 26 people were killed.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Minhaz Ahmed and Maseeruddin, both residents of the city, were apprehended by the state police's Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) and they were planning to 'unleash terror activities on August 15 (Independence Day) in different cities of the state', including Lucknow, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar told reporters.
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.
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.
Shahrukh Saifi was apprehended from Ratnagiri in Maharashtra by the Anti-Terrorism Squad.
The UAPA allows the investigating agencies to get a longer remand of the accused and an extended duration to file a charge sheet.
The Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad has undertaken massive combing operations across several districts of Maharshtra, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka.
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.
'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.
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 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.
The ATS will oppose the anticipatory bail application of Sachin Waze in Thane sessions court today.
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 revelations came during scientific tests carried out on them.
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.
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.
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 National Investigation Agency, which was formed to investigate cases relating to terrorism, was not roped in for the investigation into the Pune blast.
The accused, identified as Murtaza Abbasi, was arrested and has been sent to judicial remand for two weeks, police said and alleged that he tried to forcibly enter the temple, which was teeming with devotees during the Navratri festival, after raising the religious slogan of 'Allahu Akbar'.
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.
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.
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.
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 MP ATS arrested 11 persons, including a gym trainer, software engineer and teacher, and booked them under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and other relevant provisions of the IPC, an official said.
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.
