Police spread fear in Goregaon mall

A police mock drill at Oberoi Mall at Goregaon (East) spread panic in the area on Monday, reports HT Correspondent.

A police mock drill at Oberoi Mall at Goregaon (East) spread panic in the area on Monday.

HT Image

The fear was compounded because the drill coincided with Muharram, a day of mourning for Muslims, who traditionally take processions out on the streets on this day.

The exercise began at 10.15 am, when 250 policemen and Quick Response Teams armed with AK-47s and other combat weapons surrounded the mall and took over the space inside and outside the building in the Dindoshi area.

The drill lasted around two hours. The police first emptied the mall of people, including movie watchers from the cinema inside the mall. Hearing the gun shots, the locals panicked, and about 4,000 people gathered outside the mall.

“We were frightened, thinking the mall was under threat,” said Aruna Yadav, who was passing by when she heard the shots.

Additional Commissioner of Police (north) Ramrao Kadam said these drills will help the police gauge their level of readiness to face a terror threat.

“Such drills have become routine after the terror attacks. They tell us what our response time will be in case of an emergency, and generally make us better prepared to counter terror situations,” Kadam said.

“The police had studied the topography of the area and the mall, and swiftly took positions with the help of photographs of the mall,” Kadam added.

Asked about keeping the locals informed before the drill was conducted, Kadam said the police had done precisely that: “We had told people inside the mall as well as the locals about the drill.”

The locals refuted this. “I would not have come to the mall if I knew I would be told to vacate it,” said Avinash Shinde (27), who was asked to vacate the mall when the drill began.

Traffic on the Western Express Highway was choked, with many motorists stopping their vehicles to see the police in action. “We thought it was a rescue operation, and since it is Muharram we feared the mall was under attack. The police should not have chosen today for the exercise,” said Surekha Dixit, a commuter.