Blast in Bangalore

shyamd · Post by **shyamd** » 19 Apr 2013 16:04

Blast probe- So many goof ups April 18, 2013 1 0 Rate This

It appears to be a very difficult probe ahead for the Bangalore police investigating the blast case outside the BJP office. It could said that the operation was wrong right from the scratch and the standard operating procedure was not followed.

Immediately after the blast occurred, it was the public which rushed to the spot and began dousing the fire. It was only after this that the fire force was called. Ideally as per standard operating procedure, a responsible citizen needs to call the police first who in turn have to summon the fire force in cases of a bomb blast.

The biggest problem however began when the fire force arrived at the spot and started to put out the procedure. It is the for the police at this time to advise the fire force on how to put out a fire while securing the crime scene. The manner in which the fire was put out only ensured that a lot of the crucial evidence was lost. Immediately after this the area was swept and cleaned up.

As per procedure the police needs to be the first responder at the spot. He has to ensure that the crime scene is protected and needs to advise every other person involved in the operation to secure the evidence. When there is a fire that has been caused as a result of the blast, neither the police force not the fire department can work in isolation and it has to be a combined effort.

The police now suspect the use of ammonium nitrate in the bomb. Although this is a very preliminary report from the forensic sciences department, they are yet to ascertain many more things about the bomb composition. A lot of the evidence has been washed away and the CCTV footage too has not given them a multiple viewing option.

Three cameras are under observation at the moment. The biggest reliance is on the camera atop the BJP office which has given them some footage about a man parking a bike and then leaving. There is no clarity on the face and the police find some glimpses. To make matters worse for the police, a large part of the footage from the BJP office camera is about the office itself.

The other camera on top of a temple for some strange reason was focused in the opposite direction. A camera on top of a house too is being examined, but a lot of the footage from this camera too does not give proper details since it was focused on the stair case of the house instead of the road outside where the blast took place.

The bike is another link which the police need to crack. It belongs to the son of a retired telecom operator from Tamil Nadu. The police say that this bike was later purchased by a person and the documents and also the number had been forged.

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 19 Apr 2013 16:12

shyamd wrote:The bike is another link which the police need to crack. It belongs to the son of a retired telecom operator from Tamil Nadu. The police say that this bike was later purchased by a person and the documents and also the number had been forged.

Sorry to say this, but looks like Vicky Nanjappa is on a sermonising mode. The locals helping out, fire brigade getting called later etc. is pretty much uniform all across India (not specific to Bangalore). The idea of calling 911 and then leaving it to the Police, Fire brigade & EMS would take much more efforts, with the first priority being to upgrade these agencies to perform at high speed and good precision.

On the camera angles, that is how they have been kept. Because the focus may have been to identify intruders etc. rather than hoping for a bomb blast to happen.

On the bike part, the police seemed to have made a good lead. The number was a forged one, but they tracked the owner by tracing the vehicle company->the dealer->the original buyer. The original buyer gave clues about the most recent buyer. If I am not mistaken 4 folks have been picked up NIA yesterday from TN, and have been brought to Bangalore. I dont have much hopes on NIA, but looks like there are some leads

.

RajeshG · Post by **RajeshG** » 19 Apr 2013 16:22

vishvak wrote: The second blast was timed to go off some minutes after at that hospital and if I remember correctly patients from earlier blasts along with doctors, staff, relatives, blood donors and people willing to help around died there.

There should be strictly no blood donation accepted at the hospitals. Perhaps mobile units can collect blood as needed. Its another tragedy waiting to happen.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 19 Apr 2013 21:16

Sachin, Agree. That is a nonsense article. The obejctive is to put out the fire and limit the damage. Besides what has NIA done with all the ample blast eveidence recovered so afr in the numerous blasts in India? Zilch. So its not like they would have done something with the evidence here.
Just one more reason for non-performance.

Karan Dixit · Post by **Karan Dixit** » 20 Apr 2013 06:15

My prayers are with victims. I just hope we as humans will eradicate this disease called terrorism.

Karan Dixit · Post by **Karan Dixit** » 20 Apr 2013 06:18

The other thread got closed before I could offer my condolences to the victims. My prayers are with the victims. It is a cause for concern when just one militant can shut down an entire city as big as Boston.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 20 Apr 2013 06:50

i am waiting for the arrest news as done in boston. of course not my wish, but a must have condition.

asgkhan · Post by **asgkhan** » 20 Apr 2013 07:01

In CCTV pictures, bald man is seen parking Bangalore motorbike bomb

Johnson T A : Bangalore, Sat Apr 20 2013, 03:50 hrs

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/in-cc ... b/1105174/

A CCTV camera at the entrance of a three-storey residential building at the site of the April 17 blast near the BJP office in Bangalore has captured images of the suspected bike bomber in the minutes before the explosion.

The footage shows a bald man arriving in front of the house, parking the motorcycle in between two cars and a policeman, and hurrying away.

The bomb on the TVS Suzuki Max 100 R goes off around six minutes later.

While the images are not clear enough to identify the suspect clearly, they strongly suggest that he was aware of the impending explosion, sources familiar with the investigation said. He comes into the camera's frame from the top of the street on which the BJP office is located at 10.22 am, and the explosion occurs at 10.28 am. The camera, hit by shock waves, went off soon afterward.

"The owner of the new house had installed the camera to capture images of workers going in and out. It was active when the blast occurred, and it has captured images," a source said.

The footage has been handed over to police along with 31 days' back-up images, the owner of the house said. Police were in the process of improving the images, and were confident of a breakthrough soon.

Investigations were, however, yet to zero in on the final user of the motorcycle on which the IED was planted, sources in the Bangalore Police and NIA said. Investigators have questioned the first buyer — in whose name the vehicle was registered — and three others who used it later in Tamil Nadu, the sources said. These individuals were tracked down from the chassis and engine numbers of the two-wheeler.

"The motorcycle may have changed a dozen hands but finding the last user — whether it was a buyer or a thief — is important to track the people who planted the bomb," an investigator who has been assisting the NIA and Bangalore Police said.

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 20 Apr 2013 07:04

Mass. State Police chief Col Timothy Alben saying that after the suspect was located in the boat, their Police helicopter had a FLIR which saw the suspect by his heat signature inside the boat, and they then directed the police to the boat accordingly.

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 20 Apr 2013 07:05

Boston Police deployed their Helo with a FLIR to accurately localize the bomber and then directed the swat teams to him

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 20 Apr 2013 07:06

sorry OT

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 20 Apr 2013 07:53

the hunt would have taken much longer if the house owner had not been checking his boat. that area could not have been searched yet...its not clear if it was outside the search cordon. he would likely have died in the boat from blood loss and wiped whatever is in his mind.

all the FLIR kamdandugiri came into picture when the houseowner phoned the cops.

I fully expect a lot of turdy articles in indian media from "experts" praising the american police and trashing our own anti-terror cops

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 20 Apr 2013 08:02

ramana you locked the Boston thread when it was attracting 4 posts a minute. Could you please direct all Boston related posts to the new thread?

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 20 Apr 2013 08:02

has any news outlet among our DDM published a proper graphic of the blast near BJP office along with artwork, details of the bomb etc ?

I have seen none except a few lazy photos of the aftermath.

typical dull DDM, lacking in hard work and content to copy paste american media and looks but not their hard work.

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 20 Apr 2013 08:11

deleted

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 20 Apr 2013 08:21

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/in-cc ... b/1105174/

A CCTV camera at the entrance of a three-storey residential building at the site of the April 17 blast near the BJP office in Bangalore has captured images of the suspected bike bomber in the minutes before the explosion.

The footage shows a bald man arriving in front of the house, parking the motorcycle in between two cars and a policeman, and hurrying away.

The bomb on the TVS Suzuki Max 100 R goes off around six minutes later.

While the images are not clear enough to identify the suspect clearly, they strongly suggest that he was aware of the impending explosion, sources familiar with the investigation said. He comes into the camera's frame from the top of the street on which the BJP office is located at 10.22 am, and the explosion occurs at 10.28 am. The camera, hit by shock waves, went off soon afterward.

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 20 Apr 2013 08:21

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130420/main6.htm

Eight suspects in the Bangalore bomb blast case have been detained from three southern states: Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Sources close to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Delhi said three suspects were detained from Bangalore, four from Tamil Nadu and one from Kerala.

asgkhan · Post by **asgkhan** » 20 Apr 2013 08:23

shiv wrote:http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130420/main6.htm
Eight suspects in the Bangalore bomb blast case have been detained from three southern states: Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Sources close to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Delhi said three suspects were detained from Bangalore, four from Tamil Nadu and one from Kerala.

My deep sense of history tells me that they are either buddhists/jains/rastafarians.

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 20 Apr 2013 08:27

asgkhan wrote: My deep sense of history tells me that they are either buddhists/jains/rastafarians.

And your deep sense of secularism makes you temporarily forget the names of major world religions.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 20 Apr 2013 08:28

shiv wrote:ramana you locked the Boston thread when it was attracting 4 posts a minute. Could you please direct all Boston related posts to the new thread?

Vina's thread is there with new name.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 20 Apr 2013 08:39

shiv wrote:http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130420/main6.htm
Eight suspects in the Bangalore bomb blast case have been detained from three southern states: Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Sources close to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Delhi said three suspects were detained from Bangalore, four from Tamil Nadu and one from Kerala.

Wasn't a senior 'source' in MHA saying Yasin Bhatkal himnslef planted this new B'Lore bomb! And where are the suspects from AP who sold the bike in the first place?

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 20 Apr 2013 08:52

So, from the time the CCTV caught parking the bike to the time when the explosion happened - what is it? that should give where the suspects are.

Karan Dixit · Post by **Karan Dixit** » 20 Apr 2013 10:11

I hope someone will be able to ID the perpetrator despite poor quality of image.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 20 Apr 2013 10:32

the Ambur-Vellore-Arcot axis seems to be emerging as a strong Qila-e-Islam in the south. all they need to do is exchange notes with the mamallapuram and bhatkal crowd and the triangle will be complete. Hyd is already rife with revolutionaries.

that way each of the 4 southern states will have a bastion of islam from which the faithful can surge forth on missions of conquest

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 20 Apr 2013 18:48

still at large!?

pentaiah · Post by **pentaiah** » 20 Apr 2013 19:16

Yes A large task force of police is on the case, please stand by for further developments and no speculation is the best recourse

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 20 Apr 2013 19:20

I was only upping the thread.. perhaps I was thinking that is the only way to wake up a sleeping police network. but, yes, now they will find him/her/them, because there is someone asking for it.

Sagar G · Post by **Sagar G** » 21 Apr 2013 02:05

Bangalore blast victims out of danger: Doctors

BANGALORE: Three of the 16 Malleswaram blast victims are out of danger, doctors said. Rakshita Sujai, 18, who was injured in Wednesday's blast on Temple Street, is improving, doctors treating her at M S Ramaiah Hospital said on Friday.

"She is out of danger and is stable. Her lung infection led to ARDS but she is responding well to medication. Her chest X ray showed a white patch which could be due to inhalation of large quantity of smoke following the blast," said Dr Aruna C Ramesh, HoD, accidents and emergency, MS Ramaiah hospitals.

The II PU student of Sheshadripuram Composite College is still in ICU. She is also recovering from her leg injury, said the doctors.

Rakshita's friend, Leesha NS, 18, who was also injured when the duo was taking a break from tuitions,

is recuperating in the ICU of KC General Hospital, Malleswaram. Medical superintendent of the hospital Dr R L Chandraprabha told TOI that she was stable. and will be monitored for another 48 hours after which she will be shifted to general ward till she is fit to be discharged.

Another victim, KSRP constable Ganesh Rao, is still in ICU of Mallige Hospital. Dr N Ramesh, hospital administrator, said Rao was recovering but needed constant monitoring because of inhalation problems. Ganesh also suffered a lung injury in the blast.

Dr Dhanya Kumar, director of heath services, Karnataka met the two injured girls and said, "Both the girls are stable and will hopefully appear for their CET examinations shortly."

Nine other injured KSRP policemen were discharged from KC General Hospital on Thursday besides two civilians and a traffic policeman.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 21 Apr 2013 02:09

does indic cops vans and vehicles carry cctv? are they networked?

Sagar G · Post by **Sagar G** » 21 Apr 2013 02:13

^^^^

harbans · Post by **harbans** » 21 Apr 2013 02:19

Folks this is to inform this is absolute RUBBISH of the HIGHEST ORDER!! Never EVER in the event of a Fire follow what Vicky Nanjappa recommends here:

Immediately after the blast occurred, it was the public which rushed to the spot and began dousing the fire. It was only after this that the fire force was called. Ideally as per standard operating procedure, a responsible citizen needs to call the police first who in turn have to summon the fire force in cases of a bomb blast.

The biggest problem however began when the fire force arrived at the spot and started to put out the procedure. It is the for the police at this time to advise the fire force on how to put out a fire while securing the crime scene. The manner in which the fire was put out only ensured that a lot of the crucial evidence was lost. Immediately after this the area was swept and cleaned up.

A Fire is the most dangerous event and can get out of control killing scores if it is not put out as quickly as possible. The Public did RIGHT! Try dousing the fire. When a Fire is on, the Fire fighter is the BOSS! This is ABSOLUTE RUBBISH what Vicky is saying! This is really dangerous info that is being peddled and must be corrected!

Lilo · Post by **Lilo** » 21 Apr 2013 08:45

Cops mess up crime scene investigation

Bengaluru: As Deccan Chronicle reported on the day of the April 17 blast, city police displayed a complete lack of professionalism by failing to secure the terror blast site on Temple Street, Malleswaram where a bomb exploded on Wednesday injuring 17 people.

Officers probing the blast slammed police for not moving fast enough to cordon off the site, and allowing onlookers to trample over and destroy crucial evidence.

“Due to mismanagement of the evidence after the blast it’s still not clear what kind of bomb and materials were used in the blast,” an investigating officer said.

The severe injuries inflicted by Wednesday’s Malleswaram blast and a major surgery she had to undergo, have not affected 17-year-old Leesha’s indomitable spirit. Now being treated at KC General Hospital, Leesha who aspires to join a medical or engineering course, is confident of appearing for the Common Entrance Test(CET) scheduled for May 1 and 2.

Coming from an economically poor background – her father Doreswamy Raju is a daily wage labourer, The teenager suffered a compound fracture on her left leg and has been in the intensive care unit for the past two days.

Soon after completing her second PU examination from Ammanni College, Leesha has been preparing for the CET at Standard Academy, Malleshwaram, since April 1. Her mother, Hemalatha D., says, “She is very serious about her studies and says she does not want to miss the CET this year. She says if she gets good marks she wants to pursue studies in medicine or engineering.”

“There is a small swelling in her left leg which has been troubling her. She says she cannot hear properly in her left ear. She has hardly 10 days left for the CET and has not been able to study properly,” her mother says. Doreswamy says, “She wants to write the CET but it all depends on her health. I will not force her.”

Dr R.L. Chandraprabha, KC General Hospital, medical superintendent, said, “We are doing everything possible to give her the best possible treatment. It will take some time for the wounds to heal. We can provide her facilities to study and to reach the exam centre in a wheelchair.”

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 21 Apr 2013 08:56

The NIA investigators in the end would have come up with dubious conclusions even if the blast site were pristine due go political reasons. The police saved lives and further damage by hosing down the site.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 21 Apr 2013 09:06

see, nutcases are of many kinds.. one does the terror, and there are the others like gullible aam mass who will stampede anything for the sake of being in the crowd for doing what the other person does. unone kiya, mei bhi kiya. we have a huge population in desh, with such band wagon brains. this happens from standing line to buying tickets to catching a bus. mumbai especially is famous for creating a queue system on a flip of the finger. all you have to say, the line starts from here.. people, would just not think to follow general laws for administrative purposes.. background: how we setup our social fabric.

Nandu · Post by **Nandu** » 21 Apr 2013 13:10

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/k ... 637559.ece

A special team of the Tamil Nadu police investigating the Bangalore blast case is inching towards the suspect who last possessed the motorcycle used to trigger the explosion, highly placed police sources said on Saturday.

Investigators probing the motorcycle’s ownership in the last few months hit upon a mobile phone number that gave certain leads in the case. Based on a study of the call records of the SIM card, which was later removed and used in another handset, police have rushed to a place in Kerala.

More details in linked story.

kish · Post by **kish** » 22 Apr 2013 12:23

Sachin saar, couple of days back you said "wait for kerala connection to this blast" or something similar. You are bang on target.

Kerala link to Bengaluru blast gets stronger

The arrest of five persons in Kerala [ Images ] in connection with last week’s Bengaluru [ Images ] blast has raised the possibility of the involvement of a sleeper cell in the state behind the attack.
Click here!

Is there a Kerala angle to Bengaluru blast?

Investigators say that the five persons were detained in Kottayam, Kerala and were being questioned.

“They appear to be part of an individual group. However, further questioning will give us a clearer picture,” sources said.

The National Investigation Agency, meanwhile, is looking at a possible Indian Mujahideen [ Images ] link to the attack. They have been questioning suspects.

The Bengaluru Police say that the case is open-ended.

‘We are yet to get the link to the motorcycle. We are questioning three persons who had sold the bike, which was used to plant the bomb. However, these persons have not yet been able to tell us clearly as to who they had sold the bike to. It could have changed many hands,’ the police say.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 22 Apr 2013 18:35

Buried in the inside pages of todays toi is the fate of two women and one constable in hospitals who were injured in the blast.

One woman has acute respiratory distress problem now, she will take a long time to get well and is in icu. The other two will be shifted to ward soon.

So far no relief has been paid nor the hospitals instructed that govt will bear the cost. Out of goodwill, the hospitals have so far not charged anything from the patients.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 22 Apr 2013 18:43

Indeed a very sad state here , I hope the government pays their medical bill .....another issue that is more relevant is once they recover finding an employment for them is a big challenge , many blast victims in Mumbai were sole bread earners and looking limb/hand made sure they would never get employed in normal job and government help was not forthcoming.

I hope the bangalore victims gets suitably employed by Govt or may be i am expecting too much.

Muppalla · Post by **Muppalla** » 22 Apr 2013 18:56

Austin wrote:Indeed a very sad state here , I hope the government pays their medical bill .....another issue that is more relevant is once they recover finding an employment for them is a big challenge , many blast victims in Mumbai were sole bread earners and looking limb/hand made sure they would never get employed in normal job and government help was not forthcoming.

I hope the bangalore victims gets suitably employed by Govt or may be i am expecting too much.

Samething for the recent Hyd blasts where the injured are more. Lot of folks lost an organ or two. PM came and visited them and assured them and told them not to worry about jobs and other stuff. The government will do everything that is needed for them. Hope they follow up.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 22 Apr 2013 20:24

X_posted..

A comparative look at the blasts in Boston and Bangalore

On 15 April 2013 an explosion greeted the finish line of the Marathon race at Boston, a prestigious annual feature, wherein runners from about 90 countries were participating. Three persons including an eight year old boy were killed and nearly 183 injured. The terror unleashed through IED placed in pressure cooker yet again presented the sinister face of terrorism, which does not consider anything somber, leave alone a sporting event.

The President of the United States of America, Barack Obama lost no time in addressing his nation, beamed all over the country and the world. He assuaged and convinced his countrymen that the perpetrators would soon be identified, tracked and liquidated. The American flag, on his orders, were put to half-staff on all federal buildings till 20 April as "a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence”.

Offering full support in the investigations into the attack, the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was prompt enough in issuing a statement to extend his sympathy and sorrow to the American people. He wrote: “The people of India join me in condemning the attack in the strongest terms. We stand in solidarity and sympathy with the bereaved families, the injured and the people of the United States.”

Only a few hours later, terror visited Bengaluru in Manmohan Singh’s country, India. A bomb exploded at 10.30 am near the BJP Karanataka office. Sixteen people including 8 policemen were injured. Several vehicles parked in the vicinity were destroyed. Speculations were rife. Politics began to manipulate terror.

A former union minister was first to respond with a tweet that the blast will benefit BJP in the forthcoming Karnataka elections. Indian television channels were on an overdrive, probably based on some government advisory, that the blast was of ‘low-intensity’ and could have been caused by a cooking cylinder. The canard of ‘low-intensity blast’ was being feverously propagated even as visuals of destroyed vehicles and bytes of witnesses, who claimed to have heard the deafening explosion more than four kilometers away.

As usual, on television channels there were animated debates. Politicians across the spectrum traded accusations. The hackneyed refrain was that “let us not jump to conclusions”, as if Bengaluru had many precedence with regard to various ideological terror attacks.

The underlying propensity was therefore the desperate search for ‘Hindu terror’. Sadly, and in total disregard to professionalism, some retired DGPs displayed their political side by harping on the same “let us not jump to conclusions” theme even as they lambasted the politicians of politicizing terror. They ignored the fact that Bengaluru has emerged as one of the major hubs of jihadi terrorism.

Beginning with the attack at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in December 2005, they ignored the fact that the city has been targeted in 2008, 2010, and that fateful day 17 April 2013 happened to be the anniversary of the attack in Chinnaswamy Stadium 2010. They chose to ignore a recent pan-Indian phenomenon wherein jihadi terror spread from Rakhine state in Myanmar to Bangladesh, to Kokrajhar in Assam, having its reverberations serially in Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad and finally to Bengaluru causing massive exodus of Indian citizens from India’s Northeast.

Finally, they appeared blind to the fact that there were any number of intelligence warnings from Central Intelligence Agencies about the near-certain policy of Bengaluru being targeted during the period.

The blast in Bengaluru, therefore, was of course politicized in criminal consideration of ‘vote-bank politics’. The media too was equally culpable in questioning the timing of the blast in the backdrop of the forthcoming elections in Karnataka. In India, every year there are elections somewhere or the other, and if this be our attitude to terror then nothing can prevent us from descending into anarchy.

Unfortunately, the prime minister, Mr Manmohan Singh also displayed his ugly political side. He did not spare a word of sympathy for the victims of the blast just as he had done for the victims in Boston. He was probably still weighing political gains and loss.

Contrast this to the US wherein the security apparatus in keeping with Obama’s promise to the nation identified and hunted the perpetrators, the Zokhar Tsarnev (19) and Tamerlan Tsarnev (26), both brothers. The larger phenomenal of global jihad that made terrorists out of the brothers has been unraveled. They had roots in Dagestan, near Chechnya, known for its vicious Islamic insurgency that spilled over from Chechnya. The jihadi indoctrination of the brothers continued even after they have migrated to the US through various means, predominantly cyber networks.

The near simultaneity of the Boston and Bengaluru blasts, and the similarity in the modus-operandi cannot be dismissed as mere coincidence given the global nature of the jihadi network.

Now, also compare the reaction and response of the internal security apparatus of the US and India. The entire world was fed with the images of the US internal security machine tracking the perpetrators in all its dimensions. The man in-charge of the operations displayed a sense of determination and purpose.

On the other hand following the Bengaluru blast, as per the script National Investigating Agency (NIA) was flown in to investigate as if it was not an ‘internal security problem’ but of ‘law and order’. Very little can be expected of this organization, as it has been overwhelmingly preoccupied with creating ‘Hindu terror’ in order to balance the ‘jihadi terror’ for political purposes.

Till today, NIA has not clarified as to why, as per confessions of David Headley and Abu Jundal, did the ISI and LeT wanted to portray 26/11 as an act of ‘Hindu terror’. Working backwards from then 2008 to 2006, the attempt of NIA to label all terrorist attacks where Muslims have been causalities as a handwork of ‘Hindu terrorists’, has hit major obstacles with regards to Samjhauta blasts in 2007 and Malegaon blasts in 2006.

In the former blast, the US agencies (US State Treasury Department) steadfastly maintain that it was perpetrated by LeT and so has David Headley’s wife. If indeed ‘Hindu terrorists’ were involved in Malegaon blasts in 2006, then the NIA must initiate legal action against the then Maharastra DGP and the ATS Chief for holding press conferences and giving out details about the involvement of Indian Mujahideen (IM) and LeT in the blasts.

They should be legally made to pay for illegal detention of nine IM suspects for more than five years. The NIA also needs to explain that 30 kg of RDX and 10 AK-47 and 3,200 bullets that was seized in an Indica car being driven by Abu Jundal was meant for whose consumption. This was just three months before Malegaon blast in 2006.

When the leader of the country does not look into the eyes of his people and talk to them in such hours of crisis, speculations and rumours are bound to overtake the truth. A leader leads public opinion and does not pander to it.

You can defeat terrorism only by confronting the truth. If you conceal the real perpetrators of terror or manipulate it, it is bound to recoil with even greater force. Till the 80s, when nationalism and patriotism were still sentiments not to be trifled with, there was large degree of unanimity with regard to ideologies that were violent and subversive.

The only intelligence check that was carried out for successful UPSC candidates, joining the civil services and the armed forces was whether the individuals had any communist leanings or not. Receiving any postage from the Communist world attracted tremendous suspicion. This was, even as India was a close ally of the Soviet Union.

Tragedies are not comparable. Nevertheless, it was disgraceful for some of our TV channels to give continuous coverage to the tragedy in Boston and its aftermath, while displaying a perfunctory sensitivity to the Bengaluru blast. The same was the case with print media – headlines and pages devoted to Boston, and grudging columns catering to Bengaluru.

The irony is best illustrated by a cartoon, wherein Mr. Manmohan Singh is shown extending his sympathy to President Obama over the Boston tragedy and when the latter similarly reciprocates for the Bengaluru tragedy, the Indian Prime Minister nonchalantly remarks that such incidents keep happening in India.

Shame on us!

RSN Singh

For the record what did BRAWman say about the B'Lore attack?