High alert in Maharashtra after Pune attack

MUMBAI - Hundreds of policemen spread across Maharashtra were Sunday randomly checking vehicles, train and bus passengers and visitors to important religious shrines and vital installations in the wake of the bomb blast in Pune that killed nine people.

Though Sunday was a weekly holiday and the end of a three-day long weekend, stringent security measures were evident all over Mumbai, Pune and other parts of the state.

The terrorists’ “insidious” manner of planting the bomb - as Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram mentioned - and quietly walking away, as opposed to those attackers seen marshalling automatic guns during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, has left the security agencies flummoxed.

An army of investigators drawn from the state police, the Anti-Terrorist Squad, the elite Force One, the Central Bureau of Investigation, the National Investigation Agency, the National Security Guard and even the Indian Army were engaged in detailed probe into the blast - the first major terror attack in the country since the 60-hour Mumbai mayhem.

Major railway stations in Mumbai like Borivali, Andheri, Dadar, Ghatkopar, Mulund, Thane, Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in Bandra, Mumbai Central, Churchgate and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus witnessed stricter security measures in place — like baggage checking, metal detectors, gun-wielding personnel and closed circuit television cameras keeping a watch on all movements.

The Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus was one of the sites where the Pakistani terrorists massacred many innocent people during the 26/11 terror attacks. At least 166 people were killed in the bloody rampage by 10 sea-borne terrorists Nov 26-28, 2008.

Besides, security has been tightened at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, the Mumbai Ports, Gateway of India, Siddhi Vinayak temple, Haji Ali rock mausoleum, the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and several luxury hotels.

There were tiresome road blocks at several important spots and road junctions and at entry-exit points of city since Saturday night. All leave of security personnel has been cancelled till further notice, the state government announced Saturday night.

Even as top national leaders like Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, Bharatiya Janata Pary chief Nitin Gadkari and others rushed to Pune, Chief Minsiter Ashok Chavan was in his Mantralaya (Mumbai) office till Saturday night. He then went to Pune in the morning.

Chavan was back in Mumbai in the afternoon where he held another round of meetings to review the state security.

Elsewhere in the state, heavy security was deployed in and around Pune, the IT hubs in the city, college campuses, Osho Ashram in Koregaon Park, around the Pune Cantonment and other important places frequented by foreigners.

Security was also beefed up in major religious towns like Nashik, Shirdi, Pandharpur and checking at all state border check-posts was intensified.

Nearly 24 hours after the Pune blast, the investigators were still attempting to pinpoint the group or individuals responsible for the terror attacks.

Despite Chidambaram’s appeal to the media not to speculate, names of the usual suspects like the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Indian Mujahideen did make the rounds.

On Sunday evening, Chavan again was closeted with top ministers, bureaucrats, police officials and security experts to discuss the issue.