[Reader-list] Karnataka rubbishes Delhi Police claims

[Shivam Vij शिवम् विज्]

Karnataka rubbishes Delhi Police claims

By Sowmya Aji in Udupi (Karnataka)
Mail Today, 25 September 2008, mailtoday.in


LOCAL police officers just cannot believe that bombs for the Delhi
blasts originated here in the Udupi district. Unlike police forces in
other states, Karnataka Police still have not closed ranks with their
Delhi counterparts.

They flatly deny the existence of any SIMI network or any history of
bomb making in this southern tip of the state. They even wonder why a
bomber has to travel the length of the country to procure bomb
components, which are available everywhere.

Delhi Police had claimed one of the youngsters they picked up,
Mohammad Saif, had "confessed" that he procured 10 bombs here, which
were later planted in Delhi. This confession obviously has no validity
in a court of law. Interestingly, Karnataka's inspector general of
police (western range) Ashit Mohan Prasad  told MAILTODAY that Udipi
has no history of bomb making in the last 10 years. "The Delhi team is
conducting its investigation independent of us. In the last 10 years,
we are not aware of any bombs being made in this region... No network
of SIMI or any other terror outfit that we know of exists here," said
Prasad.

Karnataka Police admit they have no clue about Delhi Police's
investigation. The visitors from Delhi did take logistical support
from the local police, but kept them in the dark over the probe
details. They brought Saif to Manipal on the night of September 21 and
are said to have taken him around the university town after 11 pm to
identify the places he reportedly visited on August 29, to collect the
"bombs".

Prasad admits ammonium nitrate, the material used in the bombs, is
freely available in the region as it is used in rubber and coffee
plantations. But quizzed on the theory that 10 assembled bombs were
handed over to Saif here, he said, "our intelligence network has not
come across a bombmaker who could have done it here. We are probing.
All this information is coming only from Delhi."

The general opinion here, both among the police and the public, is of
sheer disbelief that the bombs originated from here. "We believe it's
a red herring — a standard operating procedure for militants to lay
false trails. Why should a militant show the police where he procured
the bomb? And why will he come so far to procure it?" a Manipal
policeman wondered.

Saif took the Delhi Police team to Hotel New Broadway International
where he and another person reportedly stayed on August 29. The
hotel's manager Prakash told MAILTODAY that no one in the hotel
recognised Saif when he was brought here by the Delhi police for
identification.

"I have signed the checkout details of Rahul Sharma (the name Saif
allegedly used) on August 29 at 7.15 pm. But hundreds of people,
particularly students from MIT, visit us here, so I don't remember him
at all," Prakash said.

The police decided that Saif was telling the truth based on the
signature that he put on a blank piece of paper. This was crosschecked
with signatures in the ledger and apparently found to match that of
Rahul Sharma on August 29.

This ledger has been taken away by the police, along with Saif's
signature on blank paper. Though according to police, Prakash is
supposed to have identified Saif just by looking at the signature, he
doesn't know whether Saif signed his real name or the assumed one.
"The signatures were similar. It did not look like Rahul Sharma, the
signature began with an 'S'. We couldn't read the rest. Maybe Saif
signed his real signature," said Prakash.

At the telephone booth where Saif supposedly made a call and spoke to
one bhai to contact the bombmaker, the operator knows nothing about
Saif. And neither the local police, nor residents have any idea who
this 'bomb maker' could be or where he procured the materials from.

Another theory floated by the police is that the bombs actually came
from Ernakulam to Udupi on the Mangala Express. But they don't explain
why Saif, who travelled by the same train, got down at Udupi instead
of going straight to Ernakulam in Kerala. According to the police,
Saif, under the assumed name Rahul Sharma, reached here at two in the
morning by this very train and caught an autorickshaw from the Udupi
railway station to the lodge in Manipal. But there is no account of
the other person who is supposed to have visited Saif in room 207, as
no one saw him leave, nor does anyone remember him.

Saif paid Rs 300 rent and left by 7.15 pm. But Prakash, who checked
him out, assumes all this as he does not remember him. And nobody is
able to come up with a convincing explanation why Saif came here and
what he actually did. Saif obviously knew enough about the workings of
this university town to register in a lodge frequented by students,
and claim that he was seeking admission to the MIT at a time when
admissions were open.