ATS was under tremendous pressure to crack case: Maria

Mateen Hafeez | TNN

Mumbai: The state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Rakesh Maria admitted on Friday that his department was under “tremendous pressure” to crack the 13/7 bombings. The media pressure, combined with speculation that the probe may be handed over to the National Investigation Agency, had left the ATS embattled.
 

   “We were under tremendous pressure to solve the 13/7 blast case. The media criticized us for not solving the case at an early stage. Still, we continued our investigation and by a month after the blasts had found out about the involvement of the Indian Mujahideen. This happened after the arrest of Haroon Rashid Naik in a fake currency case,” said Maria. “When everybody thought we were clueless, our teams were scanning CCTV images,” said Maria. “We formed four teams, each having eight personnel. It was a tough job to go through CCTV images from 170 cameras. It took 29 days to scan and identify people.”
 

    In January this year, when the ATS announced a breakthrough in the case, there were reports of rivalry between it and the Delhi police’s Special Cell. Sources in the Delhi police were quoted in the media as saying that the ATS action had jeopardised their chances of trapping IM leader Yasin Bhatkal and his associates. The Centre ended the feud by congratulating the Maharashtra ATS on its success.
 

    “We were on the right track from the beginning. We wanted to get results and therefore waited for a long time before announcing the arrests. Our aim was to solve the case and we nabbed the accused when we had collected evidence against them,” said Maria. 

 
THE CONSPIRACY According to police sources, no more than seven months were spent on planning and executing the attacks
 

Dec 2010 | Indian Mujahideen leader Riyaz Bhatkal, in a conversation with Yasin Bhatkal, hatched a plan to carry out a terror strike in Mumbai  

Feb 2011 | To execute the conspiracy, two suspected Pakistani nationals—Waqqas Shaikh and Tabrez—were sent to Mumbai, where they stayed in a rented apartment at Habib Mansion in Byculla  

 March & April | The two, along with an accused named Naquee Ahmed, conducted recces across the city and chose targets as per the instructions of Yasin 

May & June | Waqqas and Tabrez enrolled themselves in different gyms and explored the city 

June | Yet another accused Nadeem Akhtar allegedly
ferried explosives sent by Yasin from Delhi to Mumbai 

June | The explosives were handed over to Waqqas and Tabrez 

July | The bombs were assembled at Habib Mansion
and the bombings carried out on July 13 

Nov | The two suspected Pakistanis fled Mumbai 

 

 

The Times of India, May 26, 2012