Centre, state spar over nature of alert

Even as at least 16 people lost their lives and over 120 suffered grievous injuries caused by the twin blasts at Dilsukhnagar in Hyderabad, a blame game between the state and the Centre on the intelligence alert has begun.

While the state claims that there was a “general” alert on the possibility of a terror strike, the centre has been arguing that there was indeed a “specific” alert. This war of words is now triggering a debate on what could be general and specific in the case of an alert.
Interestingly, home minister Sushilkumar Shinde, who was on a quick trip to Hyderabad early on Friday, too claimed that there was never a “specific” alert though he said that there was information about a recce carried out by the terror groups in parts of Hyderabad including Dilsukhnagar, Abids and Begum Bazar way back in 2012.

Sources with direct knowledge of handling inputs are aghast at the way the state government has taken the inputs easy. “There can never be anything specific than saying that a recce was carried out in some specific locations. No one will be able to specify the time and place precisely. If that input was available the culprits would be nabbed before setting off the bomb,” a source said.

The home ministry officials had apparently alerted the state government on Thursday morning itself about the possibility of some terror act. The alert was also sent to other states including Karnataka. The state government, however, ignored the alert classifying it as a “general” alert.

The alert is being seen as more specific than ever primarily due to the inputs emanating from the revelations of one Syed Maqbool alias Zuber. This old-timer in terror had reportedly informed the interrogators in Delhi that a recce was carried out in specific locations in Hyderabad and the same was passed on to the state police. Alleged to be a member of Indian Mujahideen (IM) Zuber was a convict in an assassination case and was released from jail in October 2009 on commutation of his sentence. Police said he shuttles between Hyderabad and his home town of Satamnagar in Dharmabad near Nanded in Maharashtra.

Maqbool was arrested from Shaheen Nagar in Delhi by the Delhi special cell police in November last for alleged involvement in Jungli Maharaj road blasts in Pune. He was arrested on the basis of information from four IM terror suspects — Asad Khan, Imran Khan, Sayed Feroz alias Hamza and Irfan Mustafa, all from Maharashtra.

According to the Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad, it is alleged that Maqbool and other suspects had conducted a recce of Dilkhushnagar, Begum Baazar and Abids in Hyderabad in June last. He was said to be acting on the instructions of most wanted terrorist Riyaz Bhatkal.

The special cell of Delhi police in their press communiqué had said Maqbool was the founder president of the All India Majilis e Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) in Dharmabad, Maharashtra.

A senior Maharashtra ATS officer, on condition of anonymity told the DNA, “Maqbool is a bomb maker and taught other suspects on how to make improvised explosive devices.”
Maqbool was allegedly a part of the notorious Azam Ghori module, which operated mainly in Delhi, and mastered the art of making IEDs from Ghori. However, the investigators have also said that the prime targets of Maqbool have been cinemas showing soft porn and he had attacked several cinemas screening such movies including in Andhra Pradesh.

The Andhra Pradesh police, however, said the inputs were indeed taken seriously and there was heavy surveillance on the roads though a blast could not be avoided. But, the investigators are comparing the blasts in Pune and Dilsukhnagar primarily due to the similarities including the alleged usage of cycles to place the bombs. Even for the Pune blasts, there was a Hyderabad link and the police had arrested suspects.