Mumbai blasts: Cops grope for clues in congested blast by-lanes

With investigations tottering along in July 13 bomb blasts case, the Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad (ATS) and the Mumbai crime branch have decided to recreate the sequence of events leading to the bomb blasts at three places — Zaveri Bazaar, Opera House and Kabutarkhana in Dadar.

In fact, sleuths have decided to go as far back as seven days before the bomb blasts to string together the chain of events and have collected all available CCTV footage at the three sites.
“Investigators will be going through all the seven days of footage to identify any suspicious activity,” a senior police officer said on condition of anonymity.

According to sources, this practice will also help the police when the case goes to trial because crucial evidence and witnesses will be listed in the process, the officer added.

Explaining the measure, the officer said that police will scan through the footage to find out minute details like where cars and two-wheelers are regularly parked.

“We will also be speaking to a lot of people who are regulars at the three sites to probe if they saw anything suspicious in any of the seven days preceding the blasts,” the officer said.

The police are confident of gathering definitive clues with this process. “Even if we do not get any clues, we will surely be able to identify some witnesses who will tell us if they observed any suspicious activity,” the officer said.

People who have offices and residences in the areas around the blast sites will be shown the CCTV footage.

“We will try and identify as many people as possible who are seen on the CCTV footage. This will help us zero in on any suspect or suspicious person who is not a regular in that area,” the officer said.

Meanwhile, the CCTV footage currently available with the police have not been able to reveal any leads as far as identifying suspects is concerned.

“At Dadar, there are no CCTV footage available which give a clear view of the spot where the blast occurred. In Zaveri Bazaar, CCTVs again have not been able to capture or record any clear footage at the time of the blast. At Opera House, a CCTV has captured the blast but it has not recorded any suspicious activity, nor any individual who could give rise to suspicion,” the officer said.

‘Hard to gather intelligence at Zaveri Bazaar, Opera House’
Intelligence gathering has been difficult at Zaveri Bazaar and Opera House because the locals, who are allegedly involved in dubious businesses, are wary of allowing the police access to the two south Mumbai areas.

Three blasts had ripped through Zaveri Bazaar, Opera House and Dadar, killing 20 people, on July 13.

A beat constable has to make the rounds in the narrow lanes of the area that falls under the jurisdiction of his police station. “The beat constables have to create a rapport with the locals and gather vital information about the activities in the area,” said a senior police officer, requesting anonymity.

But, this does not happen at Zaveri Bazaar and Opera House. “We have faced resistance from locals at Zaveri Bazaar and Opera House on several occasions. May be the dubious nature of their business is one of the reasons,” the officer added.

“If the police are not allowed to visit these areas, which are often on the hit list of terrorist outfits, it gets difficult for us to gather information about the suspicious and anti-social elements,” he said.

Police commissioner Arup Patnaik had visited all three blast sites — Zaveri Bazaar, Opera House and Dadar — and held a meeting with senior police officers to chalk out a plan on how these areas can be better monitored.

Patnaik had also raised concerns over the issue of inability to collect intelligence from these areas.

“We don’t have a scientific intelligence gathering mechanism. The beat constables are not trained to gather clues and if even if they do, they are not scientifically processed by agencies such as the Intelligence Bureau and Research and Analysis Wing,” said former IPS officer YP Singh.

Moving out of Zaveri Bazaar impractical, say retailers
A day after the Bullion Market Association said they planned to move out of Zaveri Bazaar in south Mumbai, retailers said it was a workable solution for the bullion market, but not for them.
The association had made the suggestion in the wake of the July 13 serial blasts.

“It is not practical for us to move out. There is no such serious talk on this issue. People in the diamond market are moving, but we will remain here,” said Kishore Lakhani of Jagatilal Minawala Jewellers.

There are approximately 350 retail shops and 500 wholesale offices in Zaveri Bazaar that employ 50,000 unskilled and 2 lakh skilled workers.

“Our long-standing demand has been for a pedestrian plaza. We had asked the municipal corporation to evict all hawkers and provide parking space. On Friday, we reiterated the demand for a parking lot when Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray visited Zaveri Bazaar for a condolence meet,” said Deepak

Tulsiani of Dwarkadas Chandumal Diamonds.

Thackeray promised that he would take up the issue with the municipal commissioner.

“We suggested that the municipal corporation set up a parking lot and we will build a warehouse in the basement that exists as of now. Thackeray said he will look into the matter and get back to us,” said Prithviraj Kothari, president of the Bullion Market Association.

“We have been demanding to be moved out of the congested area. But, it has to be a well-planned project. We want banks, vaults and other infrastructure to be in place before we shift in the new place,” Kothari added. “Moving out of Zaveri Bazaar will never work out for us. We had tried moving into the plaza, but it failed and our business suffered,” said Mukesh Jain of Chintamani Jewellers.

For now, all 12 associations at Zaveri Bazaar, including the Bullion Market Association, have decided to double the number of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras and security personnel in the area.

“We have 32 CCTV cameras and plan to install more as the requirement,” said Ashwin Derasar, the association’s public relation officer.

Other long-term plans include demands for higher floor space index and cluster redevelopment of the area. “There is a huge space crunch, both for parking and vehicular traffic,” said Haresh Kewalramani, a retailer.