Set to be blamed by 26/11 probe panel,Mumbai Police chief is moved out

Days before it is due to table the Pradhan Committee report about the lapses in the police response to the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai....

Days before it is due to table the Pradhan Committee report about the lapses in the police response to the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai,the Maharashtra government today removed Hassan Gafoor as the citys Police Commissioner.

Gafoor,a 1974 batch IPS officer,will now be Managing Director of Police Housing Corporation in the rank of DGP.

The government named

D Sivanandan,a 1976-batch IPS officer,to succeed Gafoor.

The Pradhan Committee report,presented to Chief Minister Ashok Chavan last month,is believed to be critical of Gafoors role in marshalling the force during the attacks. Although the report has not been made public,speculation about its contents triggered a furore in the ongoing state Assembly session with the Opposition Shiv Sena-BJP accusing the panel of seeking to give a clean chit to the police.

Mumbai Police lost 12 policemen,including officers Hemant Karkare,Ashok Kamte and Vijay Salaskar,during the first night of the attack. A series of investigative reports by The Indian Express,which concluded this week,on what went wrong on 26/11,showed gaps in the Mumbai Police response and confusion in the ranks. Gafoor drove from his residence to the Oberoi-Trident and stayed there for a large part of the crisis.

However,sources said,Gafoors removal is also an attempt by the Government to deflect questions regarding the role of other individuals or departments and pre-empt the Oppositions attack expected in the Assembly when the Pradhan report is tabled.

The budget session is due to end on Tuesday and the report is expected to be presented on Monday,leaving little time for a discussion on it as promised by Chavan. He had also asked Chief Secretary Johny Joseph and Additional Chief Secretary Home Chandra Iyengar to prepare an Action Taken Report ATR for submission to the assembly along with the Pradhan report.

When contacted,Gafoor told The Sunday Express: This is not a transfer but a promotion. I am very happy with it,as the promotion was due for some time. In fact,I am even happier because I am an engineer and I have been given a posting in which there are a lot of applications of engineering.