Mumbai: Attributing the 26/11 Mumbai
terror strikes to the "failure of security agencies to meet
such eventuality", Joint Police Commissioner (Crime) Rakesh
Maria, who probed the audacious attack case, on Wednesday said many lessons have been learnt in the aftermath of the siege.
"We never imagined that attacks like 26/11 would ever
happen and thus we were not prepared... It was a failure of
imagination. Many lessons have been learnt. But now, we are
well-equipped to deal with terrorism", Maria said in an
interview on the eve of 26/11 anniversary.
He also said that probe into the terror attack case was
not yet over as chief of LeT`s operations Zaki-ur-Rehman
Lakhvi and 34 other absconding were yet to be questioned on
their role in the conspiracy. "This and a lot more needs to be
probed," he said.
"We have done whatever best we could do... Sitting here
we could not do everything. The conspiracy was hatched in
Pakistan and we have provided each and every evidence to that
country. Pakistan will now have to probe and as and when
information trickles in, our investigation into the case
deepens," Maria said.
However, he refused to comment on the alleged links of
LeT operatives David Headley and Tahawwur Rana arrested by FBI
for conspiring attacks inside and outside the US including
India.
Recalling the 59-hour siege, he said, "for the first
time we had come across such experience. In earlier
terror-related cases, we had to inspect the target sites after
the incident. But in this case, we had to face the
terrorists."
The first breakthrough the police got was when
terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab was captured alive by
Tukaram Ombale, who lost his life, says Maria.
"Ombale`s sacrifice can never be forgotten," said the
officer, who did not expect that the attack probe would be
handed over to him.
About the first leads that the attacks were a
handiwork of Lashkar-e-Taiba, Maria said when they questioned
arrested terrorist Kasab early morning on November 27, he
had disclosed that the LeT was behind the attacks.
"The first four questions asked to Kasab were how many
of them were there?, what kind of weapons they had?, what was
the plan of action? and how they had entered the city?," he
said.
Explaining challenges he had come across during the
probe, Maria said the priority of the police was the safety of
Kasab.
"Kasab faced threats to his life. He was very crucial
evidence for the case. We ensured that nobody knew where he
had been lodged. Even inside the Arthur Road jail, we had to
deploy heavy security to him as several underworld members
were lodged in the jail," he said.
Second challenge was the investigation of the case as
whole world would scrutinise the charge sheet, he said.
"We established concrete and substantial evidence
before saying anything about the attacks... Whether it was
about the role of LeT handlers in Pakistan or technology used
by them."
PTI
