“The panel has found that the Mumbai Police Commissioner did not take the lead in handling the situation. During the entire operation he was stationed at one spot near Trident hotel,” it says about Gafoor.

“This created an impression among the public that the police commissionerate could not handle the operation efficiently. Several police officers have told us that the commissioner did not guide them or did not ask or enquire about anything from them. If the commissioner would have contacted officers on wireless or mobile phone it would have boosted team spirit, several officers feel. We have come to the conclusion that Mr Hassan Gafoor lacks leadership qualities.”

The panel says that there was no specific intelligence inputs about the threat from Central agencies and that there are a multiplicity of agencies to co-ordinate and act on intelligence inputs, yet, the existing inadequate machinery to work on it acted to the best of its ability. Force deployment procedures were not followed, policemen didn’t have access to the best weapons or adequate ammunition, the force is overburdened at the best of times, yet young officers did good work while the team leader failed.

However, the Maharashtra government has rejected some of the blunt observations made by the panel and defended Gafoor, even though it pre-empted the criticism against him and moved him out of the post by promoting him over the weekend. “We cannot accept the opinion of the panel because it has said that the Mumbai Police has discharged its duties in a proper manner. If so, how could their leader have been unsuccessful?” the government has countered.

... contd.