As the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad has been unable to provide a breakthrough, the Centre is seriously considering handing over investigations into the German Bakery blast to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Sources told The Indian Express that the issue had already been discussed at the highest levels in the Home Ministry and a decision to hand over investigations to NIA could be taken this week “if the ATS was not able to identify the vital clues” that could identify the group behind the blast.
While Home Minister P Chidambaram is personally monitoring the probe, the Centre is not very happy with the pace of investigations, considering that all resources have been put at the disposal of the Maharashtra Police. Since the NIA sleuths have been camping in Pune from day one, the agency would not have to begin the probe from the scratch. The ATS is reportedly trying to identify the three persons in the CCTV footage recorded by a camera at Hotel O, which is located near German Bakery, minutes before the blast. German Bakery’s CCTV was focused at the cashier and has only records of customers paying their bills. Much to the chagrin of the security agencies, the waiter at the table under which the IED was kept doesn’t remember the customers who sat there.
Though the ATS has been checking call data records and technical intelligence, it is still not clear whether the IED had a timer device or was set off by a remote control. Pieces of mobile phone were found on the blast debris but it is not clear whether it was part of the IED or belonged to a victim.
Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/pune-blast-state-police-clueless-probe-may-go-to-nia/582682/
No comments:
Post a Comment