Police in Mangalore fail to coordinate; miss chances to nab IM men

Police in Mangalore fail to coordinate; miss chances to nab IM men

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Jan 20, 2012 : A DNA report revealed how poor communication and lack of cooperation between various police investigative agencies and the local police in several areas including Mangalore has led to unsuccessful police operations.

Recently, a decision on the part of the Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Maharashtra to pick up Naqi Ahmed, an informer for the Delhi police when the Delhi police were conducting an operation to arrest Yasin Bhatkal, a member of the Indian Mujahideen (IM), has led to a controversy. While the ATS says that they were not aware of the operation, the incident clearly illustrates the huge communication gap between various investigative agencies in India.

Back in September 2008, the Mumbai police had pulled out into the open a large IM module, during which they had nabbed Saqid Shaikh, a top IM leader, who had then provided valuable information regarding its other leaders and especially about the Bhatkal brothers Riyaz and Iqbal.

Three teams set out in different directions to work on this angle. One of the teams headed over to Delhi to keep an eye on an IM module led by Atif Amin, another went to Mangalore, and the third went to Azamgarh.

A police officer, who was part of this operation, said that when their team was camping in Delhi on September 18, a team of Delhi police officers conducted a raid on L-18, Batla House where the terrorists were hiding. While the team was confident of capturing them alive, Amin and another terrorist were killed in police encounter. Since Amin was the leader of an IM module, he could have revealed valuable information regarding other modules had he been captured alive. This sudden move on the part of the Delhi police wrecked the operation of all the three teams.

The team, which went to Mangalore, also faced similar problems from the Mangalore city police. Acting on a tip off, a team of Mangalore police raided an address where the Bhatkal brothers were hiding on September 29. Since the team did not have any information about the hideout, they urged the local police to help them out. Surprisingly, the local police turned down their request on grounds that this would lead to communal unrest in a Muslim stronghold, especially during the festive season.

When the team informed their senior officials in Mumbai that the local police were refusing to cooperate, Deven Bharti, the additional commissioner of police, flew to Mangalore to request the local police to cooperate with the team. When the Mangalore police finally decided to help, the Bhatkal brothers had made good their escape.

The team that went the Azamgarh faced similar problems because the members of the IM module there had already fled into Nepal.

Y. P. Singh, a lawyer and former IPS officer, said that there is always competition within the police force to be the first to solve the case whenever some vital information is made available. Owing to this competitive spirit and lack of coordination, top criminals often give police the slip. He voiced his opinion that when a police agency is working in some other state, they must take the local police into confidence and involve them in the investigation. 

 

Courtesy: DNA, Mumbai