Arrest exposes lacunae

VADODARA, June 15: The arrest of three hardcore Punjab militants by the Vadodara police last week may have nipped a major subversive plan...

VADODARA, June 15: The arrest of three hardcore Punjab militants by the Vadodara police last week may have nipped a major subversive plan in the bud, but it has also exposed the absence of specialised personnel to deal with post-arrest situations at the police station-level in the State.

Consider this. After the terrorists were picked up from Tarun Nagar late on Friday, it took the Crime Branch sleuths more than six hours to ascertain the importance of the catch. 8220;Initially, we weren8217;t sure who they were. We just thought they were some criminals8221;, a Crime Branch officer admitted.

By the time the police realised what they had netted, the militants were lodged in the Detection of Crime Branch police station, which even Police Commissioner J Mahapatra admitted, 8220;has poor access control8221; i.e. its entry and exit points are vulnerable. It was only afterwards that adequate personnel and sophisticated arms were deployed to guard the terrorists.

Sources said even the central Intelligence agents, in Vadodara to interrogate the trio, had been dismayed at the access control. 8220;The way everyone even those not from the security agencies is allowed in could prove disastrous8221;, said a Central officer. 8220;After all, the police should have realised they were housing three hardcore Pakistan-trained militants.8221;

Apart from the lax security, officials also complained about the alarming absence of dossiers on militants, their outfits and 8212; most importantly 8212; counter-insurgency techniques. As a result, local policemen came to know the finer details about the Babbar Khalsa and its operations only after consulting the Punjab police.

However, by the time the Punjab police officials came down to Vadodara 8212; three days after the arrest 8212; the case was as good as dead, since the news of the arrest had been splashed all over the local newspapers. So much so that the police now say they can8217;t track down the terrorists8217; local contacts.

8220;Coordination is necessary8221;, admitted Director-General of Police C P Singh, 8220;especially in view of the increased ISI activities in the State.8221; While acknowledging it was also necessary to provide police station-level personnel with enhanced training, he said it was more important to better the coordination between the local police and the State Intelligence Bureau, which specialises in such cases.

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While Singh refused to comment on the delay in informing the SIB in this case, SIB officials squarely blamed the Vadodara police for the same. Had the city police passed on the information immediately, the SIB could have coordinated between the State and Central agencies to obtain the complete background of the militants and even help trace their local contacts.

Even Director-General of Police Intelligence R N Bhattacharya admitted that relaying of information had been delayed. 8220;Some real time was lost due to the delay in passing the information,8221; he said but emphasised that the case was not yet dead.

Mahapatra, on his part, admitted that the Vadodara police had, indeed, kept the information from other agencies. 8220;But that was not because of any sinister design8221;, he said, while acknowledging that police station-level personnel were yet to be familiarised with militant arrests and that the premature leakage of the news 8220;has made efforts to trace local contacts difficult.8221;