No CCTVs working at mosque,police draw a blank

“None of the cameras installed by the Wakf Board were working. We had written to them about it,but no action was taken. We sent them back recently,” said Syed Tarique Bukhari,general secretary of Jama Masjid’s Consultative Committee.

The fact was confirmed by Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat. “We have not installed any cameras around Jama Masjid. The only cameras we have are all inside the monument. We did not get any footage of the attack. The registration number of the motorcycle was given to us by an eyewitness who called us,” Bhagat told Newsline.

Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari,meanwhile,claimed the authorities had ignored his repeated requests for stepping up security of the area. Waving a letter written by Bukhari to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,Bukhari’s brother Syed Yahya Bukhari said,“There are two metal detectors and a policeman at each gate of Jama Masjid. But as you can see,nothing works and is definitely not a deterrent.”

Police should have been vigilant:V K Malhotra
The Delhi BJP on Sunday condemned the firing incident outside the Jama Masjid and said the police should have been more careful in ensuring proper security in the “sensitive” area. Opposition Leader in the Delhi Assembly V K Malhotra said the Delhi Police should have been “more vigilant” as there have been intelligence inputs about such attacks in the national capital ahead of the Commonwealth Games. “We condemn the incident. It has taken place just two weeks before the Games. We feel police should have been more vigilant,” he said. He said the BJP had been urging the Government to install CCTV cameras in “sensitive areas” like the area near the mosque. “But no such cameras have been installed. If the cameras had been installed earlier it would have helped in getting some clues,” Malhotra said.