Confusion over number of bombs

After an additional bomb was recovered at CST on Wednesday, the police on Thursday said the terrorists had brought in 10 bombs, reports Debasish Panigrahi.

How many bombs did the 10 terrorists bring to the city?

HT Image

On Tuesday, Police Commissioner Hassan Gafoor had claimed that the terrorists had brought five bombs of which two had exploded — in the taxis at Vile Parle and Byculla and three were found and defused — two from outside the Taj hotel and the other outside Oberoi hotel.

But after an additional bomb was recovered at CST on Wednesday, the police on Thursday said the terrorists had brought in 10 bombs.

So, the bomb count seems to be skewed. Even as the number of bombs exploded has been going up in the police records, the number of bombs found live stands the same, even after Wednesday’s finding.

How? Even the Mumbai police do not have answer. Joint Commissioner of police (Crime) Rakesh Maria on Thursday told reporters: “The terrorists were carrying 10 bombs. Of this, three were defused while the rest seven went off. The bombs that had been defused included the one found at the CST, one at Gokul Hotel (behind Taj) and the other near Leopold café.”

He also said that seven bombs went off during the attack — two at Nariman House, two at Oberoi hotel, two inside the two taxis and one blew up at the main dome of the Taj.

So, the bomb that the Mumbai police had claimed to find outside Oberoi hotel has disappeared from its records.

“It (the discovery of the bomb after six days) shows how poor our training in handling a crime scene is,” said ex-police commissioner MN Singh.