The report on the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, authored by Ram Pradhan, a former Governor and Union Home Secretary and V Balachandran, a retired IPS officer, is said to have highlighted glaring lapses in the official response and the disturbing extent to which red-tape stalled the upgrade of the city police force.

The Indian Express has learnt that the Pradhan committee report makes startling revelations: how the top police brass did not know that Nariman House had Jewish residents until the attack; how Mumbai’s 56-member police Quick Reaction Team had done no firing practice since September 2007 for lack of ammunition; how five Cuffe Parade police patrol boats — meant to be in the area where the 10 terrorists landed — were away, tackling a protest in Worli against the Sea Link.

And how intelligence alerts were sifted first by a “desk officer” who hardly ever passed these to his seniors.

It’s also learnt that the Pradhan committee backed the New York Police chief’s assessment that the Mumbai Police, in its current structure, would not have been able to respond and deal with attacks like the ones on 26/11 — where the terrorists were far better trained, armed and equipped.

The committee is said to have praised the timely response of the Mumbai police but has also noted that it was as if the police were responding to a “law order situation” and not a terrorist attack.

Some glaring lapses the committee is said to have revealed:

Nariman House: Issaq Ibrahim Bagwan, ACP of the Azad Maidan division, was among the first to respond to explosions in the Colaba area. It is believed that the committee has found that no one had any idea of the “significance” of Nariman House.

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