Some of the vital components of the Delhi police were not pressed into action immediately after the bombing of the Israeli Embassy car on Aurangzeb Road here on Monday, raising questions over the standard operating procedure followed in such crisis.
According to sources, the quick response teams constituted for attending to emergencies like a terror attack were not immediately summoned after the incident was reported to the police. It is learnt that the first call to the police was made by a Special Protection Group squad manning the nearby Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Race Course Road residence. The SPG reported that it had heard an explosion in the vicinity of the PM's residence.
Subsequently an alert was sounded through the Police Control Room net around 3.15 p.m. It took some five minutes for the PCR vans to reach the spot and thereafter the local police also reached there. An Air Force fire truck had by then doused the fire in the car and the seriously injured Israeli official was taken away to the Embassy by her driver in an auto-rickshaw. The area Additional Station House Officer and his subordinates went to the spot. The SHO and an Assistant Commissioner of Police, who was then overseeing arrangements at 24 Akbar Road, also rushed in.
Till that time the policemen present at the spot had no clue about what had transpired. It was first taken to be a simple case of fire or cylinder blast in the car, as no splinters or shrapnel were found. The rear end of the embassy vehicle was damaged and its windows and windscreen shattered along with those of three other vehicles.
On a cursory inspection of the vehicle, the ACP first reported that it was a taxi. However, on being told to carry out a proper check he discovered its identity. This created suspicion of a terror attack and the officers were instructed to immediately cordon-off the area, a forensic team was called in and the Police Commissioner briefed. After a confirmation by the injured Israeli lady official and an eyewitness, who claimed to have seen a motorcyclist sticking a box-like object to the right rear end of the embassy car seconds before the explosion, the officers concluded that it was indeed a terror strike.
Officers of the Special Cell and intelligence agencies rushed to the spot for investigations. However, the need for activating the much-talked-about Special Weapons and Tactics team comprising trained commandos was not felt.
Although the police apparatus had been activated by then, it is alleged that the “black rose” code, signifying high alert, was sounded much later. Barricades were then put up on the roads, but the time gap was enough for the bomber to have made good his escape.
Stating that there was a standard operating procedure in place, police officers refused to divulge details on the pretext that it was a confidential document and was shared on a need-to-know basis. The document, which reportedly provides for step-wise action in emergency situations to be followed by the police, has not been circulated among the lower-rung. “However, they are routinely briefed on the basis of the SOP. Several guidelines to be followed in case of a terror strike have also been issued and they are complied with,” said an officer.
As regards the drawback in terms of electronic surveillance through closed-circuit television cameras, it is learnt that a tender for procurement of nearly 1,200 CCTVs for installation at strategic locations and stretches in the high-security areas of New Delhi has been cleared.
While cameras have been installed around India Gate and inside the Delhi High Court, following an explosion there last September, clearance for the proposal to procure more CCTVs took about five months.
