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ShareMumbai: 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, today 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 to PTI 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 (LeT), 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."
