Army veteran, who trained commandoes in combating terror, says that the Mumbai Police needs to improve on the standard procedure followed after such explosions; former supercop begs to differ
Army veteran, who trained commandoes in combating terror, says that the Mumbai Police needs to improve on the standard procedure followed after such explosions; former supercop begs to differ
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Colonel (retired) Mahendra Pratap Choudhary, who has trained Mumbai Police commandoes in combating terror, was squirming in his apartment when he saw the live footage on news channels, covering the serial blasts last evening.
The army veteran says the local police were not quick enough to cordon
the area and prevent the crowd from venturing on to the crime scene
"The Mumbai Police need to improve the basic Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) followed post bomb blast. Moreover, they are not trained sufficiently to handle the crowd, which is evident from the television footage," he exclaimed.
Choudhary knows his onions for he raised and commanded the first anti-terrorist Black Cat Commando force, now known as National Security Guards, in 1982.
He was also the director of National Security Academy where he imparted training in trying to detect, avoid and diffuse bugs, mines, booby traps, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and terror bombs.
According to Choudhary, the local police station should have immediately cordoned off the spot of the blasts and ensured that minimal tampering was done to the locations where the explosions occurred.
"It is crucial for investigators and forensics scientists that the crime scene remains unaltered so they may gather smallest clue about the nature and type of explosives used," Choudhary explained. This may be helpful in leading sleuths to the people or the group behind the crime.
In his opinion, the local police were not quick enough to blockade the area and prevent crowd from venturing on to the crime scene.
He added that there were TV reports about the police making an attempt to move the damaged vehicle found at the blast site in Dadar, bearing the number MH-43-A-9384. "This should have been avoided to prevent crucial forensic evidences," he said.
"Any bomb which is not a military bomb and is assembled is an IED," he said.
"Prima facie, it seems that the bombs were of low explosives and low intensity as the blast have only shattered window glasses, and not entire building structures or the windows of nearby buildings. Secondly, trees and leaves have not been ripped apart, which is not the case with strong explosives."
Colonel (retired) Mahendra Pratap Choudhary
Choudhary added that the police should have the necessary equipment to conduct post blast procedures in local police stations to preserve the evidence.
At a primary glance, these blasts seem to be the handiwork of people who are new to making bombs, or may be this was a trial run, the colonel speculated.
'Good job'
However, other authorities said that the way the Mumbai police handled the blasts deserved praise.
Julio Ribeiro, former supercop who was awarded the Padma Bhushan for his role in handling difficult situations such as the terrorism in Punjab in the 80s, said, "I am happy at the manner in which the Mumbai Police conducted themselves on the blast spots. Whatever they did was in a disciplined fashion.
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The police commissioner was on the spot, as are senior police officers. There are different ways of handling a situation and the way the cops are handling it is the right way. Now their only job should be to find the culprits and ensure they get punished."u00a0
Inputs by Varun Singh
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