Court rap for news channels,ban on broadcast of CCTV footage of blast

Public prosecutor Raja Thackre and assistant public prosecutor A V Ausekar had submitted the application before the court.

Pune police commissioner Satyapal Singh said the ATS was probing how the CCTV footage was leaked to the television news channels. “I don’t think that the CCTV footage was leaked from Pune,” Singh said.

“The ATS knows which other agencies had access to the CCTV footage,” he said. Meanwhile,the application submitted by the ATS mentions that the incident of the blast on February 13,2010 was recorded in the CCTV installed at the German Bakery and the adjoining Hotel O.

“The original hard disc of the coverage of the Hotel O and the original video cassette of the German Bakery covering the incident and the recordings prior to the incident are an important part of evidence in this case; hence they have been duly seized and sealed under a panchanama. Copies of the same were prepared for investigation purposes before sealing,” the ATS application before the court said.

The application further says,“On 23.02.2010 at about 19.00 hrs,the coverage of the CCTV was broadcast by electronic media channels like Headlines Today and Aaj Tak. The persons appearing in the CCTV images are likely to be important witnesses of the case. The incident being a terrorist attack,the disclosure of the identity of the witnesses may pose a serious threat to their life and will adversely affect the investigation which is in the initial stages.”

Police get letters claiming responsibility for blast

The Pune police have received two letters by post from organisations “SIMI International” and “Mujahideen Islami Muslim Front”,claiming responsibility for the German Bakery blast. Both the letters are written in Hindi and are handwritten.

Police commissioner Satyapal Singh said investigations were on to find who had sent the letters. They have also received a few phone calls,claiming responsibility for the blast,he said.

According to Singh,the postal stamp on the SIMI International letter makes it clear that it has come from Pune itself. Singh said the stamp on the other letter was not clear though. “We suspect that the letters are sent to mislead the investigation.”