New Delhi: Some of the top Mumbai police
officers have been accused by their former boss of dithering
from "responding to the situation" during the 26/11 attacks.
Gafoor Hasan, the then Mumbai Police Commissioner, said,
"a section of senior police officers refused to be on the
ground and take on the terrorists. By doing so, they chose to
ignore the need of the hour."
Naming some of the seniors, Hasan, in an interview
published in 'The Week' magazine just days ahead of the first
anniversary of the attacks, said, "I told you there were a
handful. For example, K L Prasad refused to come to the
Trident and decided against hitting the roads. Devena Bharti,
K Venkatesham and Parambhir Singh did not appear keen on
responding to the situation as it kept dawning on us."
Prasad was then the Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and
Order) while Bharti was the Additional Commissioner of Police
(Crime). Venkatesham was the Additional Commissioner of Police
(South Region) and Singh was the Additional Commissioner of
Police (Anti-Terrorism Squad).
"Yes, there was dearth of eagerness on the part of a
handful of senior officers to be on the ground during those
days," said Gafoor, replying to a question if he noticed a bit
of unwillingness among the senior officers.
Now Director General of Police (Housing), Gafoor received
a lot of flak from the Ram Pradhan Committee, which probed
into how the security agencies responded to the deadly terror
strikes that claimed more than 180 lives.
It had observed that command and control was not properly
exercised during the handling of the attacks.
Bureau Report
First Published: Saturday, November 21, 2009, 00:54