High alert didn’t deter blasts

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ATS chief Rakesh Maria is seen in conversation with senior police officials in Pune on Thursday—Asian Age

In what clearly points towards the lax attitude towards security, the Pune blasts happened even as the city was on high alert. The alert was sounded following specific intelligence inputs in as early as May that Lashkar-e-Tayyaba would target busy places, including hotels and lodges.

Home minister R.R. Patil had admitted in the legislative council — a mere 15 days before the blast — that the security in Pune had been heightened in the wake of the intelligence report. Replying to a question raised by Shiv Sena MLC Neelam Gorhe on July 16, the home minister said, “There was an intelligence input received on May 3 about the possibility of a terror attack at an ‘important location’ in Pune and other places in Maharashtra by LeT.”
Mr Patil had further said, “An alert, stating that the terrorists can take advantage of the Gujarat coastline, was also received. Security measures have been taken to avert a terror attack in Pune and security-related information has been already given to the officials, along with those related to hotels, lodges and
other crowded places in Pune.”
Ironically, Mr Patil’s claims of his men having briefed the hotels and lodges fell flat after the bombs exploded outside a McDonalds and Bal Gandharva Auditorium, among two other locations on the busy Jungalee Maharaja Road.
Furthermore, even the CCTV camera installed by Pune Municipal Corporation outside Dena Bank — right below which a bomb was planted — was found to be not functioning. The camera footage would have been vital for the investigators to identify the bomb planter.