13/7 blasts: 6 months on, Mumbai ATS still in the dark

The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad is still in the dark, despite interrogating over 1,300 persons in connection with the attacks. A couple of months after the blasts, the police claimed that an Indian Mujahideen module was responsible for the attack.

However, even after questioning of several persons, it is still not clear which module actually carry out the attack.

Though the ATS is optimistic of cracking the case, but looking at the manner in which the leads have been trickling, it appears to be a Herculean task.

The first bit of optimism came about when the Delhi police cracked down on the Bihar module of the IM a month ago. Independent investigations by both the Delhi and Maharashtra ATS have given no leads regarding the 13/7 case.

When the investigation into the Pune module did not yield results, the Bihar module was looked into. However, no clues were found.

A source however informed that such cases cannot be probed by state-based agencies.

The NIA was roped in to help with the investigation, but then there was a falling out between the officials which led to the NIA backing out of the probe.

Interestingly, the NIA has the database of terror-related incidents across the country, and ideally they ought to have probed this case as well. The Maharashtra ATS ran into trouble, because there were inputs coming in from other states.

The NIA would have handed this matter better as it does enjoy unlimited jurisdiction, thanks to the powers bestowed on it by the Home Ministry.

Today, the ATS is even finding it hard to say if IM actually carried out the attacks. The ATS has explored states such as Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and even West Bengal in search for clues, but returned empty handed.

The closest the ATS came to cracking this case was when it arrested one Haroon Rashid. His interrogation was followed with the arrest of one Asrar Hamid. Earlier, the ATS claimed that these men had travelled to Pakistan and planned this attack.

However, all the ATS got out of them was a fake currency racket. Some in the Intelligence Bureau feel that the exploring of the underworld angle to this case would not be such a bad idea.

The IM had no reason to carry this attack out at this point in time, considering they already had a successful attack in Maharashtra in the form of the German Bakery blasts.

They would also need to find what role did individual persons play in the attacks. The ATS will also need to have some more patience and watch how the leads into the Bihar module shapes up before it could make its next move in this case.