NSA slams ‘sloppy’ terror probe

Lack of cooperation between police forces, Intelligence Bureau criticised

Critical omissions by investigators in the recent past may have facilitated the continuing bomb attacks across India, admit sources in the security establishment. Over the last couple of days, National Security Adviser MK Narayanan and senior officials had been criticising what they saw as the lackadaisical approach of intelligence and security officers.

Inquiries reveal that a crucial email sent moments before the bombs went off in three court premises in Uttar Pradesh on November 23, 2007, has yet not been investigated properly. The email, sent from guru_alhindi@yahoo.fr to media houses, was a crucial piece of evidence. It was sent from a cyber cafe in Laxmi Nagar, in east Delhi. A similar email was sent from Shahibad on the outskirts of Delhi some minutes after the Jaipur blasts too.

There were interactions between the Indian agencies and their US and French counterparts over the email before UP blasts. But sources admit they didn’t get anywhere, but for some vague inputs. “If we had been able to trace the IP address of the computer where the email was created and other details it would have done immense good to us. Maybe even in cracking open the network itself,” says a source, who is disappointed with the way investigators have been handling the recent blasts.   
“The attacks are all by the same group. They have had such a long run without much disruption. It is a telling tale of our failures,” he admits.

Sources say for the past two days questions are being raised by top brass about the lack of cooperation between the Intelligence Bureau and state police forces, and their combined failure in tracking sleeper terror cells.

MK Narayanan, a former IB chief himself, is among those who have raised questions about the lack of proper cooperation and coordination between central intelligence agencies and state polices, and the overall lack of competence in cracking the HuJI-SIMI network, sources say.

A series of bomb blasts, starting in 2005, across India are yet to be solved satisfactorily. From the serial blasts in Delhi on the eve of Diwali in 2005, the 2006 train blasts in Mumbai, the 2007 serial blasts in Hyderabad, bomb attack in Malegaon etc., are yet not solved satisfactorily.

Some senior IPS officers are now also beginning to blame the unscientific investigations by various agencies for the confusion and continuing reign of terror. The last time terrorists had such a successful run was in 1997, when a single group carried out 26 bomb attacks across the capital in a year killing almost 100 people, before it was cracked.