Mumbai police rapped for leaking critical info

The Centre has rapped the Mumbai Police for leaking details of the cross-border linkages of the two Mumbai residents arrested over the weekend, reports HT Correspondent.

The Centre has rapped the Mumbai Police for leaking details of the cross-border linkages of the two Mumbai residents arrested over the weekend.

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A senior home ministry official said the Anti-Terrorist Squad of the state police had seriously compromised investigations by going public with phone interceptions that linked Abdul Latif and Riyaz Ali to a person in Pakistan identified as chacha (uncle), believed to be an army officer who may also have played a role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.

“Probe suggested the two were getting instructions from someone called uncle from Pakistan to execute their activities here,” ATS Chief K.P. Raghuvanshi had reportedly said on Sunday while announcing the arrest.

This statement has cost investigators this link. “Uncle is no more… We lost chachaji,” the officer said, an acknowledgement that the number had gone silent as reflected from the monitoring of interceptions by central security agencies.

The official said the revelation was a “real hit on the head for us” but pointed that the police officers concerned had been pulled up. He added that the Mumbai suspects had a specific plan to hit some targets, while the Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist arrested in Ahmedabad, Bashir Ahmed Baba, was trying to set up a base in Gujarat.