Investigations into the serial bomb explosions in Ahmedabad have so far not pointed to the involvement of any foreign terrorist organisation, a top Home Ministry official said on Tuesday, also lambasting the police for its outdated “research” methods and poor intelligence gathering skills. The official also admitted that, as of now, the authorities did not have much of an idea about the composition or the nature of Indian Mujahideen, a group that took credit for the attacks in an e-mail sent to some media organisations minutes before the first of the explosions. “At this point, it would be preposterous for me to say anything about the nature of the group or its functioning,” he said, also acknowledging that police forces were finding it very difficult to keep up with the technological prowess of terrorist organisations. “Technology has put a huge challenge before the investigators. Criminals are leaving behind very few footprints and the police forces are unable to follow them,” he said.“We have been noticing a number of improvisations being made by terrorist groups. On the other hand, there is hardly any research going on in police forces. The Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) is in a shambles. While dealing with terror, police forces need to be proactive. It is a battle of ideas,” he said.The official also blamed the state police for failing to gather intelligence at the local level. “Exploding 17 bombs is not an easy task. It required a huge amount of planning, logistical support, financing and even local support. The local police should have been able to sniff out the plot even if it was being carried out by a well-organised network,” he said.
