Pointing fingers at systemic problems and bureaucratic hassles, the two-member panel appointed by the Maharashtra Government to probe the lapses of the police during the 26/11 terror attacks has largely failed to fix any accountability for the incoherent response of the Mumbai Police barring blaming the then city police chief Hassan Gafoor for what it calls his “poor leadership.”

A summary of the findings of the Ram Pradhan committee were presented to the Assembly today after the Congress-NCP government did a last-minute turnaround and decided not to table the entire report.

The summary was presented as part of the government’s “Action to be Taken Report,” which responds to the 26 key points raised by the inquiry panel formed at the end of December. Besides Pradhan, a former governor and Union Home Secretary, the panel included V Balachandran, a retired IPS officer who served in the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW).

The panel has sought to deflect criticism of the

authorities by bluntly accusing the managements of the Taj and Oberoi-Trident hotels of not heeding to

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26/11 panel: Gafoor stained, rest whitewash

security advisories, laying the responsibility for coastal security at the doors of the Navy and the Coast Guard and finding fault with everything Gafoor did — or didn’t — do during the first night of the terror attack.

The managements of the Taj and Oberoi did not implement the security advice given by the DCP of the area and seek increased police security after intelligence tip-offs said the two hotels — as well as the World Trade Centre in the neighbourhood — could be targeted by terrorists, the panel said. It also feels that it is impossible for Mumbai or Maharashtra police to be responsible for coastal security.

... contd.