Dud bombs are leading the police to dead-ends

Red herrings have diverted terror investigators' focus, say intelligence experts

NEW DELHI: Are dud bombs left at most terror-attack sites to mislead investigators? The pattern emerging from the series of blasts across the country in recent times has led senior officials in the security establishment to believe that perpetrators may be planting red herrings.

Investigators have pursued clues provided by unexploded bombs and have attributed breakthroughs to them. But some officials are questioning the credibility of such claims. The warning about false trails has been sounded at a time when the police are struggling to unravel the tightly operated terror networks that crisscross Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka, among other states.

Some sources in the intelligence and security establishment told DNA that there has not been one "credible and conclusive" breakthrough in any of the recent blasts. "It is time we re-examined the evidence left behind with unexploded bombs. Are they deliberately planted red herrings?" a senior official wondered.

Leads developed from unexploded bombs recovered from Hyderabad's Mecca Masjid embarrassed the police. A SIM card found with the bomb was traced to one Babulal Yadav, an innocent Jharkhand resident.

Then in the last week of July, the Central Bureau of Investigation issued a look-out notice for two people who the agency thought might have bought the SIM cards used in the Mecca Masjid blasts. The photo of one the 'suspects' led the police to a Yoga teacher in Noida who had played no role in the terror exercise.

Similarly, after the Samjhauta Express blasts, investigators had picked up several clues from two unexploded bombs. The leads, however, have not led anywhere.