ONGC terror suspect’s boss may reveal D-link

Mateen Hafeez I TNN
Mumbai: The ATS suspects that the employer of Abdul Latif, one of the two suspects caught in March for allegedly planning to set the ONGC headquarters on fire, was also connected to the Pakistanbased underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

The investigators had been insisting that there was no other link in the case that could help them prove Latif’s direct link with D-gang member, Bashir Khan, who had escaped to Pakistan in 1993 after the serial bomb blasts.Bashir Khan is suspected to be the ‘Uncle’ or Pakistani handler of Latif.

“We will make Latif ’s employer a prosecution witness. We have got information that he was also connected to the D-gang in the past,’’ said an officer.

Latif, who worked in Mangaldas Market near Crawford Market, was arrested on March 13 along with his brotherin-law Riyaz Shaikh for planning terror strikes at five places in the city. The police were tightlipped when asked if Latif ’s employer was aware about Latif’s telephonic conversation with ‘Uncle’.

The two were assigned the task to set the ONGC office on fire and they had done a recce of the place and befriended an ONGC employee for the purpose. They have been booked under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Police alleged that Latif and Riyaz had purchased 10 litres petrol for the operation. “The suspects were instructed to set the headquarters on fire and commit terrorist activity at Mangaldas Market, Borivli’s Thakkar Mall, G7 cinemaplex in Bandra and a chawl near Thakkar Mall,’’ an official said.

The Times of India, April 8, 2010

‘Pune blast may be solved soon’

ATS Submits Preliminary Report To State

Mateen Hafeez I TNN

Mumbai: Pointing fingers at the splinter groups of the banned Indian Mujahideen (IM) for its alleged role in the Pune blast, the anti-terrorism squad (ATS) on Wednesday submitted its preliminary report to the Maharashtra home department, assuring that a breakthrough in the case would come soon.

New ATS chief Rakesh Maria spent half of Wednesday at Mantralaya where he briefed senior bureaucrates about the suspects behind the Pune blast.

A blast ripped apart German Bakery, a popular joint for foreigners and Puneites near Osho Ashram, on February 13, killing 17 people and injuring several.

Security establishment insiders said Maria’s investigation was not very different from that of his predecessor, K P Raghuvanshi, who began the Pune blast probe. “Maria is working on similar lines,’’ said an official.

An ATS officer from the Pune unit told TOI that they were close to cracking the blast case and arrests would be made soon. Maria’s preliminary report will now be submitted to the central government.

The filing of the report comes a fortnight after Maria took over as ATS chief replacing K P Raghuvanshi, who received flak from the Centre for divulging information prematurely to the media on terror cases.

Officials said the ATS was looking for a youth from New Delhi and another from a South Indian state. However, their identity has been kept secret. The IM is the prime suspect in the larger conspiracy and the ATS suspects that the Pune blast operation could have been outsourced to some new groups.

“IM members were already under the scanner of security agenices. So it is possible that they outsourced the operation to some other boys who were not on the police radar,’’ an official said.

State home minister R R Patil told the Legislative Council on Tuesday that the investigating agency had identified the suspects and more details would be disclosed after their arrest.

“The police department has zeroed in on the accused. We have identified them and will soon reveal more information about the case,’’ Patil informed the council. Officials said some former IM members were of great help in the probe.

The Times of India, April 8, 2010

A dry run to tackle FLOOD-LIKE DISASTERS

Mateen Hafeez I TNN

Mumbai: Monsoon may still be days away, but several government organisations teamed up on Tuesday to conduct a mock drill to assess their preparedness to tackle floods. Teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the fire brigade, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s disaster management cell as well as the civil defence gathered outside the Matunga police station to carry out the mock drill.

Though the focus of the exercise was floods, the teams conducted a ‘dry run’ under the King’s Circle bridge. The drill, which began at 3 pm, lasted for an hour. “Our intention was to check how prepared and fit we are. The mock drill was conducted at an area which was severely affected in the 26/7 flood. We will now assess the results of the exercise,’’ said brigadier B K Khanna, senior specialist, NDRF.

Several groups of BMC workers, mostly women, played the role of flood victims while members of the other groups from the fire brigade, the NDRF’s divers and swimmers, rescued them.

The mock drill was a traffic stopper of sorts, with curious passersby—in taxis, cars and even BEST buses—thronging the site to see what was going on. Taxis, cars and even BEST buses halted. Though the traffic police had diverted several routes, much of their energy and time was spent in controlling vehicular movement.

Before the drill started, the NDRF personnel inflated a rubber boat in 15 minutes. In true street play fashion, three NDRF personnel donned diving gear and ‘brought’ the victims to safety. Other ‘rescuers’ in life jackets assisted in the entire operation. The flood victims, screaming bachao bachao, were rescued in three boats which later ‘took’ them to a safer place. A 25-yearold man, who was ‘unconscious’, was brought on a stretcher and three women doctors helped him regain conscious. He was given first aid.

Inspector P Sagar Kumar of the NDRF said, “We’ve come all the way from Pune; we don’t have any office in Mumbai yet. We are identifying low-lying areas and will conduct mock drills to tell citizens what to do in disasterlike situations.’’
mateen.hafeez@timesgroup.com

TO THE RESCUE: Several groups of BMC workers, mostly women, played the role of flood victims while members of the other groups from the fire brigade, the National Disaster Response Force’s divers and swimmers, rescued them. The mock drill, however, brought the traffic to a halt as curious passers-by stopped to have a look

The times of India, April 7, 2010

Cops want to grill Nooria on consumption of drugs

Nooria Haveliwala was released from jail on Sunday

Mateen Hafeez I TNN

Mumbai: The city police will move a higher court pleading that they were not allowed to question 27-year-old US national Nooria Haveliwala under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

Haveliwala was arrested on January 30 for killing two persons, including a sub-inspector, while she was driving drunk at Marine Lines. On March 31, a magistrate granted her bail on technical grounds and Nooria went home from the Byculla jail on Sunday.

The police, however, said the magistrate did not consider the provisions of NDPS Act while granting bail to her.

Haveliwala’s lawyer Aabad Ponda had convinced the court that the police had overshot their 60-day deadline to file a charge sheet against her for an offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304 (II) of the IPC—if proved guilty, the convict can be sentenced to jail for 10 years.

Senior police officials are now consulting legal experts over cancelling her bail order. “We have not decided any action against the the policemen probing the case. We will surely go in appeal to cancel her bail,’’ said an officer. Ponda, however, said the police were trying to save their face. “Policemen wanted to keep her inside for 90 days. The law has come to her help and she has been granted bail by a court,’’ said Ponda.

On February 10, a forensic science laboratory test revealed the presence of morphine as well as cannabis in Haveliwala’s blood and urine samples. Following the test, charges under the NDPS Act were slapped against her. “We had told the court earlier that the police wanted to investigate details like, how Haveliwala had access to drugs and who supplied it to her, but we were not allowed to question her in prison. We were not granted her custody either. The court should have taken the cognisance of our points under the NDPS Act but we were not given time for a reply,’’ said a senior police official.

Haveliwala was booked only under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder). The sessions court, while rejecting Nooria’s bail plea on February 26, had observed that the offence fell under Section 304(II) (culpable homicide done with knowlege that an act committed by a person could result in the death of someone). “For an offence under that section, the police have only 60 days to file a charge sheet,’’ Ponda had pointed out. However, a senior police official said, “For this section, the police have 90 days within which they are supposed to file a charge sheet. We will now move the higher court to get her bail rejected,’’ said the officer.

mateen.hafeez@timesgroup.com

The Times of India, April 5, 2010

Maria gears up to crack Pune blast case

ATS chief Rakesh Maria

Mateen Hafeez | TNN

Mumbai: New state anti terrorism squad (ATS) chief Rakesh Maria is likely to visit Pune next week to get a first-hand knowledge of the bomb blast at German Bakery on February 13.

The ATS is yet to achieve a breakthrough in the case. Maria, it is learnt, has now begun giving lessons to the various ATS units. Sources in the ATS said Maria has been holding meetings to know the status of various cases being investigated by the ATS. “He asked how the officers gathered information on terrorism and suspects. However, he was not satisfied by their replies,’’ said a source.

Maria (53) took charge of the state ATS on Monday and began meeting officers from first day itself. He has made it clear that he will not bring officers from the crime branch to the ATS and that secrecy in terrorrelated operations should be given priority.

“When Maria began enquiring about some suspects from Kurla, Trombay and other parts of the city, the officers did not have a satisfactory answer. Maria gave an ‘assignment’ to some officers and asked them to work on the information. Moreover, the ATS officers also did not have much information about the Indian Mujahideen’s members who are on the run.’’

Maria had earlier cracked several terror-related cases, including the Mulund train blast, Gateway of India and Zavery Bazaar blast, the arrest of over 20 Indian Mujahideen members, investigation into the 26/11 terror attack etc. The biggest challenge for him, say observers, is cracking the Pune blast case and the arrest of the absconding accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast.

“We are assigned the job of tackling terrorism. We have to be updated and more cautious. I hope you people will work hard and cultivate more information to prevent any terror strike,’’ Maria is believed to have said in the meeting.

When Maria began discussions with the Pune unit of the ATS, most of the officers did not have valuable information about some terror suspects who were on the list of security agencies. “We will ask the government to provide us what we need in terms of manpower and equipment, but we have to be the best when it comes to detection and prevention,’’ Maria told his officers.

The Times of India, April 3, 2010

7 walk free for lack of evidence

UNDERTRIAL’S MURDER INSIDE ARTHUR RD JAIL

Mateen Hafeez I TNN

Mumbai: The sessions court on Thursday acquitted seven persons in connection with the murder of undertrial John D’Souza for lack of evidence. D’Souza was killed inside the Arthur Road prison on December 23, 2006.

Six of the acquitted are Sayyed Irfan Ahmed, Sachin Shette, Mazhar alias Mohsin, Soma Khakre, Guddu Ali, Jabbar Ahmed and Javed Shabbir.

During the trial, the prosecution said that a knife was used to kill D’Souza. However, the defence insisted that the injuries on the victim’s body were caused by an object bigger than a knife. Moreover, the opinion of fingerprint experts was not sought.

D’Souza, an alleged robber from the Katta Shekhar gang, was suspected to be involved in 25-30 cases of robberies. D’Souza was reportedly killed during a brawl over filling of potable water in a barrack. D’Souza was stabbed 14 times. Three others were also injured in the fight. The barrack, where the murder took place, is meant to house 50 inmates, but 157 undertrials were lodged there at the time of the crime. Over 75 inmates were present when the fight broke out, but no one stopped it. All four inmates were in jail for over five years.

According to jail authorities, D’- Souza had gone to fill his bottle with water from a tap, where the three who were injured in the fight were also present. An argument over who should get water first ended in a scuffle, but the matter was not reported to officials. The same four had another scuffle and attacked each other with broken steel plates (used during meals), inmates had said. Jail officials, however, suspected that they could have also used a knife. The fight was brought under control only when police were called in. By that time, D’Souza had been stabbed in the chest and stomach. He later succumbed to his injuries. D’Souza was last arrested by the Byculla police from Ajmer on 21 May 2001.

mateen.hafeez@timesgroup.com

The Times of India, April 4, 2010

Lawyer gets threat letter from Pujari

Advocate Ashok Saraogi

Mateen Hafeez I TNN

Mumbai: While the lawyers’ community is still coming to terms with the brutal murder of Shahid Azmi, who was defending 26/11 accused Faheem Ansari, advocate Ashok Saraogi has claimed that he is being threatened by members of the underworld.

Saraogi, who had taken up the case of extradited gangster Abu Salem a few years ago, has complained to the police about receiving a threat letter, purportedly from an aide of gangster Ravi Pujari. According to Saraogi, the letter states that he should stop defending “crooks and traitors’’ or “face bullets”. According to sources, Saraogi may soon be provided police security.

Crime branch chief Himanshu Roy said, “We are investigating the matter and will take appropriate action.’’

Saraogi had defended Salem in the 1993 serial blasts trial, but withdrew from the case in 2008. The two-page hand-written letter is in English and bears the signature of one Uday Shetty, who claims to be a close associate of Pujari, a police official said.

Raising objections to the lawyer’s defending of Auram Realty’s Jignesh Rathod, the letter states that the “firm is cheating innocent investors to the tune of crores of rupees’’. “It states that the investors’ money be returned within a week,” said the official. “Pointing to the attack on Azmi, the letter warns Saraogi of a similar attack,” the official added. Four assailants had shot Azmi at point blank range. Shetty, in the letter, has also claimed that Saraogi has been on his gang’s radar for the past few years as he has been defending “traitors like Abu Salem”, said a source.

The Times of India, April 4, 2010