With Delhi Police naming 13 men from Azamgarh as responsible for the blasts in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Jaipur, Delhi and even Uttar Pradesh, the state police cut a sorry figure. None of the 13 men were on its radar.

Admitting that, A K Jain, Inspector General of UP’s Anti-Terror Squad, said: “The Delhi Police gave us no information before their operation. They are sharing the information now after the killing of two Azamgarh youths.” After the Jamia Nagar operation, in which Atif and Sajid were killed, Delhi Police Joint Commissioner Karnail Singh said they had got vital information from Gujarat and Rajasthan Police. As for the UP police, Singh said: “We started sharing details with UP police only after the encounter and the arrest.”

Ahmedabad Crime Branch Joint Commissioner Ashish Bhatia said they got to know two mobile numbers from Abu Bashar’s interrogation and the calls were made between Azamgarh and Delhi. “We gave this information to Intelligence Bureau and it was passed on to Delhi Police which helped in tracing Atif and others. I am not aware if the IB had shared those call details with UP police.”

Sources involved in anti-terrorist operations in various states say they are reluctant to share information with the UP police because of “too much political meddling” in its anti-terrorist operations. They say there had been instances when the UP police failed to act on their information, or even keep watch on certain elements.

For example, way back in March, the UP Police knew about the information given out by former SIMI chief Safadar Nagori, general secretary Shibli and 10 others during their interrogation after their arrest in Madhya Pradesh, said the sources.

... contd.