13/7 blast: 29 days of labour to identify bomb planters

It was a painstaking effort of 29 days from officers of the ATS that helped them identify the planters involved in the 13/7 triple blasts case. The CCTV footage, said the ATS, is crucial evidence in the case and is part of the chargesheet submitted in the court.

According to ATS chief Rakesh Maria, the blasts had taken place in the peak hours of July 13. After the blasts several teams were formed that went on foot at night and took a census of every house, every shop and other places in the 3-kilometer radius of the blast sites.

"The basic idea was to find how many places had CCTV cameras and whether we can get any clues from them,” said Maria.  He said that CCTV cameras from jewellery shops, pharmacy shops were also scrutinized along with the traffic cameras. At least 170 CCTV cameras from all three locations were studied to see the movement of the planters, he added. Four teams were formed that worked in shifts to go through each and every camera footage. Each team consisted of two officers and six policemen.