Cops scouring 46 CCTV cameras for clues. Two-wheeler used in the blast identified

Mangalore Today / NDTV

Mumbai, July 15:  New Delhi, July 14 : Investigating agencies have identified the two-wheeler in which one of the bombs of Wednesday’s Mumbai serial blasts had been planted, Home Secretary R.K. Singh said Friday. Eleven CDs of CCTV footage were also being scanned for clues into the serial bombings, he added.

 
The country’s top security official said cyber experts were tracing the origins of an e-mail that may give the investigators a clue about the bombings Wednesday evening that killed 17 people and left 131 injured.

’We have identified the scooter in which one of the bombs was planted,’ Singh said on the sidelines of a function here.

Asked if the investigators had any definite lead, the home secretary said several suspects were being questioned because of their ’previous known linkages’ with terrorists.

’There are various leads based on our previous databases, various people are being questioned, so investigation is going on,’ he said.

He was asked if investigators had traced any cross-border links to the triple bombings. The home secretary said: ’We have an e-mail which originated elsewhere. It is being followed up.’

About the CCTV footage for clues into the bombings, Singh said: ’There are about 11 CDs (of CCTV footage) which have to be gone through. It’s voluminous work.’

’Now, we have all the people and the faces appeared. They have to be recognised to see whether they are locals or outsiders. That process is on. People who are not recognised have to be put through a data base... the suspicious people are being verified.’


We will put up a credible security system: Maharashtra CM


Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Friday made a startling revelation that he was cut off from his police force for almost 15 minutes after the triple blasts on Wednesday in Mumbai as the mobile networks were jammed.

 

"But for first 15 minutes or so, there was complete breakdown of communication which was shocking which was unacceptable, but we depended on mobile phones, our radio wireless communication system was the only back up, we had to depend on that, our state wide VHF network is not being used now, we’re trying to rebuild that as a back up communication," said Chavan in an exclusive interview to CNN-IBN.

Chavan admitted that public anger following Wednesday’s triple blasts in Mumbai was legitimate. He said that people are angry and asking why the government has been unable to stop Mumbai being attacked time and again.

Claiming that things are actually better than they were during the November 2008 terror strikes, Chavan also said, "it is our endeavour to make sure that no terror attack happens in Maharashtra, no attack happens in Mumbai, that attackers are inevitably caught and punished, that our intelligence capability, that our forensic ability, that our security ability is best in the world and that we should we should spend whatever money is required to achieve that capability, whether it’s training, posting or not interfering politically."

He, however, added that the government of the day has to ensure safety no matter who holds the power.