Zeenews Bureau
Mumbai: Following the Union Home Ministry rap, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan too on Wednesday chided the state Anti-Terrorism Squad’s chief for revealing too much to the media in connection with the recent arrest of two terror suspects.
Chavan said the revelation of the evidence of cross-border terror links of the arrested terror suspects at a press conference by ATS chief KP Raghuvanshi has affected the probe, as the trail to the suspects’ Pakistani handler has gone cold.
While agreeing that the ATS chief should have withheld the information till the probe was over, the CM said he will speak to Home Union Minister P Chidambaram over the action to be initiated against the ATS chief.
The ministry has already asked the Maharashtra government to initiate stern action against "erring" officials of the Anti-Terrorism Squad.
The state government has been asked to ensure that stern action is taken against the official so that such incidents can be avoided in future.
At the detailed press conference on Saturday, ATS chief Raghuvanshi had revealed that the arrested Mumbai residents, Abdul Latif and Riyaz Ali, were in touch with a Pakistan-based "Chacha".
The revelation to the media prompted "Chacha" to go off the interception radar of the central intelligence agencies.
This episode prompted the Home Ministry to rap the Maharashtra police.
"We lost Uncle ... Chachaji is no more," said a senior Home Ministry official, who described the revelation as a "hit on the head for us".
Latif and Riyaz Ali, residents of Bandra and Dahisar respectively, were arrested by ATS on March 13 near Matunga railway station.
They were allegedly preparing to carry out terror strikes at an Oil and Natural Gas Facility (ONGC) facility in Mumbai, besides Thakkar Mall in Borivali and Mangaldas Market in south Mumbai.
First Published: Wednesday, March 17, 2010, 19:07