[Assam] This NGO may be able be able to unearth the truth behind the Dhemaji and recent bombings in Assam in view of the denial by the United Liberation Front of Asom.

[Bartta Bistar]

*Fact Finding on the Attack on RSS Head Quarters on June 01, 2006
06/16/2006
By Ram Puniyani*

* *

*http://www.pluralindia.com/articles.php?id=115*





*Constituent Member Organizations:*

People's Union for Civil Liberties, Nagpur
Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights, Mumbai
Dharm Nirpeksh Nagrik Munch, Nagpur
Andra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee, Hyderabad
Indian Association of People's Lawyers
Bahujan Sangarsh Samity

*List of Members:*

Head of the Team
Justice B G Kolse Patil, Rtd Judge of Mumbai High Court

Convenor
Dr Suresh Khairnar,

Members
1.  Dr Anand Teltumde, CPDR, Mumbai
2.  Adv P Suresh Kumar, Andra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee, Hyderabad
3.  Mr Ahmed Latif Khan, Civil Liberty Monitoring Committee, Hyderabad
4.  Dr D John Chelladurai, India Peace Centre, Nagpur
5.  Mr Nagesh Choudhury, Bahujan Sangarsh Samiti, Nagpur
6.  Mr Arvind Ghosh, PUCL, Nagpur
7.  Adv Anil Kale, Indian Assn of People's Lawyers
8.  Adv Surendra Gadling, Indian Assn of People's Lawyers
9.  Mr Gaffar shakir, Dharm Nirpeksh Nagrik Munch, Nagpur
10.  Mr A K Ghosh, PUCL, Nagpur
11.  Mr Arvind Deshmukh, Bahujan Sangarsh Samiti, Nagpur
12.  Mr T V Kathane, Nagpur, Bahujan Sangarsh Samiti, Nagpur
13.  Adv Anand Gajbhiye, IAPL, Nagpur

*Introduction: * The nation awoke on June 01, 2006 hearing the shocking news
of an attempted attack on the RSS headquarters building.   It was a respite
that the news of police foiling the attempt too came along.

The news of attempted attack on the Head Quarters of the RSS reportedly by
'Fidayeen', Pak based terrorist group, sent a spine chilling fear in the
minds of millions of peace loving people in the country.   We all know very
well, the potential of such a happening to ignite a trail of tragic clashes
among the communities.  The peace loving masses heaved a sigh of relief as
the leaders of every community promptly condemned the heinous act and
appealed to the masses to maintain peace, and peace did prevail.

In the next twenty four hours quite a lot of information, almost all the
information pertain to the attackers had been published obviously supplied
by the police department to the media.   The narrative of the whole
encounter as reported on June 02, 2006, in stead of clearing the mystery of
the attackers, unfortunately confounded the citizens all the more.   The
reports were conflicting and leaving innumerable questions on ground zero
situation unanswered.

The foiled attempt and the appreciable tranquility maintained by the masses
were a great relief.   However the deadly weapon and ammunition with which
the 'fidayeen' (as told by the Commissioner of Police) appeared, and the
ease with which the police claim to have liquidated them, suggested that the
Police team had a 'cake walk' over the deadly terrorists.

The very next day a section of the media aired their doubt over the whole
happening (as reported by the Police Commissioner), most of them quoting
wide sections of the national community, including senior leaders.

The peace loving social activists and campaigners for communal harmony based
in Nagpur were at first relieved by the success of the police over
terrorist.   However the confounding report appeared in the media and the
doubts aired by masses and leaders prompted them to read between the lines.

Particularly, the 'Islamic' terrorist attempting to attack RSS Head Quarters
has a larger implication.   It has the potential to push the nation into a
communal strife.  Scuh a thing should not be allowed to happen in any
manner, orchestrated by any group.   The confounding report of the
'encounter' therefore requires an honest study.

The above stated social organizations, hence constituted a Fact Finding Team
comprised of the above mentioned activists.   The team is headed by Mr B G
Kolse Patil, retired Judge of Mumbai High Court, and Convened by Dr Suresh
Khairnar, a renowned social thinker.

The team visited the site of the encounter, spoke to the people residing in
the vicinity.   The team also visited the RSS Head Quarters and met Mr
Shirish Wate, the HQ incharge.  The team went to Government Medical College
to meet the Doctors who carried out the postmortem.   Dr Dhavane, who was
present gave elementary information and declined to give any detail.  The
team spoke to Dr Vibhawari Dani, Dean, Govt Medical Hospital and College.
The Dean also declined to talk over the postmortem report.  It was a
classified document, she said.  The team repeatedly sought an appointment
with the Commissioner of Police. The CP too declined to meet the team.   On
the contrary the CP asked the respectable members their credentials, who
funded the team, what international connection does the team have and
similar questions, with apparent intention to intimidate the team from their
earnest effort to help the society to know the truth.

*Incident: as reported by Mr S P S Yadav, the Commissioner of Police, Nagpur
*

The Special squad of the City police who were on high alert following
specific input from intelligence agency spotted a white Ambassador car
moving in a suspicious manner in Lakdi Pul in Mahal area and started tailing
it.   Two cars, a Tata Sumo and a Qualis were used in the operation.  The
tailing cars were unmarked and all police personal in it were wearing plain
clothes.

When the ambassador car with red beacon atop moved towards RSS Head
Quarters, one for the constables in the Tata Sumo casually asked the young
occupants about their intentions.   Rattled by the enquiry the militants
opened fire on the police vehicle even as they tried to get away.  In the
process they dashed into the barricade near the eastern side of the RSS
HQ.   The alert cops led by PSI Rajendra Tiwari, PSI Arvind Saraf and PSI JA
More replied to the Gunfire.  It was their bulletproof jackets that saved
police personnel.   The terrorists also threw a hand grenade on the police
party.  But it failed to explode.  They threw the grenade without pulling
out the pin.

The gun battle lasted about 20 minutes in which the militants fired 76
rounds while the cops retaliated with 63 rounds.   The terrorists had three
AK-M automatic weapons, 12 hand grenades and 5.6 Kgs of highly explosive
materials with them.  They also had three spare magazines for their fire
arms each carrying 30 rounds.   They had hundred and twenty rounds each,
said Mr S P S Yaday.

Mr Yadav also reported to have said, looking at their preparation and
determination to storm RSS HQ at any cost despite heavy police deployment,
indicates that it was a 'fidayeen' attack.   Refusing to divulge the exact
identity of the three militants, who were in the age group of 20-22 years,
Mr Yadav described them as 'Islamic militants.'   At this point of time, he
added, it is too premature to associate them with any outfit.

*The Media Report*

As per the details received from the police a white Ambassador car MH
20-8979 with a red beacon and three persons on board dressed as police
sub-inspectors, was first spotted by the patrolling police party at the
central avenue some time before the incident.   The car was heading towards
Badkas Chowk.  As it emerged form Chitaroli, two police vehicles, a Tata
Sumo carrying two PSI and five constables and a Toyoto Qualis with 5 PSI got
suspicious about the car.   The police vehicles hastened the chase of the
suspicious ambassador car.  At Badkas chowk the ambassador car took a left
turn towards Junta chowk and again turned right towards the Sangh building
from the Lakdipul side.   Presuming the car might have gone towards Ayachit
mandir the police stopped the chase for a while.  However when the police
jeep came back to the same place during their routine patrol, they noticed
the same car in a small alley between Lakdipul and Gajanand Mandir towards
the eastern gate of the RSS Head Quarters.   The Police vans then closed in
on the ambassador car.  However, without paying heed to the police patrol
the car tried to force its way through the temporary barricade erected 50
meters before the main entrance of the RSS HQ.

At this juncture the PSI Tiwari intercepted the ambassador car and enquired
as to where it was heading.   Instantly thereafter the two ultras who were
seated on the rear seats came out of the car with a grenade in their left
hand and AK56 rifle in the right hand.   One of them lobbed the grenade at
the police, but since the pin was not fully removed it failed to explode.
Seeing this the ultras opened indiscriminate fire at the police party.   In
the melee PSI Saraf who just alighted from the police vehicle got hit at his
abdomen.  However, since he was wearing a bullet proof west the bullet did
not pierce his body.

Soon after this police force and the ultras started exchanging fire in which
two of the three militants were killed on the spot.   The driver of the car
then tried to flee towards the Bhauji Daftari School.  However he could not
escape the bullets from the police and he too was killed on the spot.   The
entire shoot out went on for just around 15 minutes between 4.00 and
4.15AM.  The police then informed the control room and the
commissioner of
Police about the shoot out. The senior police officers immediately reached
the spot and shifted at the three ultras to the government medical college
where they were declared brought dead.

…The members of Dautkani family along with other neighbours woke up at the
sound of the firing and one of his family members opened the door of their
house to peep outside.   However alert cops told the family members to shut
the door and remain inside the house only.  It was to prevent the terrorist
from taking shelter in the Dautkani house and taking them as hostages.   The
operation was carried out by the city police successfully without any loss
of life other than that of the militants.

The press reported on the 2 nd June that, all the three terrorists are said
to be Pak nationals.  Two of them hailed from Lahore and the third from
Gujrangwala.  The police had seized from the place a dairy which contained
email address in Urdu, a few phone numbers of Lohare and Gujrangwala.   Rs
45,000 and maps of the city were recovered from the terrorist.  The names of
three terrorists are said to be Afsal Ahmed Bhat, Bailal Ahmed Bhat and
Mohammed Usman Habib.

Loksatta, (Indian Express Group) Nagpur Marathi edition, dated June 03 2006
carried an article containing the following detail.   'Normally the attacks
by the terrorists are preplanned meticulously and they seldom fail in their
attempt.  This being the public opinion, the recent futile attempt by the
terrorist on RSS building and the success gained by the police in thwarting
the attempt creates suspicion in public mind as well as among RSS people and
their rivals.   Though normally terrorists claim the responsibility of the
attack, no terrorist group has claimed any responsibility to this attempt.
Therefore the question arises, whether they were hardcore Islamic terrorist
or just any other new comers.   According to police statement, threat of
attack on RSS head quarters loomed large for the last one year and there was
security cordon around the building.   Yet the attackers seemed to have no
idea of any of them, neither did they seem to know the roads leading to RSS
building.  And no map of the building and its surrounding could be found
with them.   During the whole encounter with the police the terrorists got
only one chance to lob a grenade and that too did not explode.  Not a single
policeman was injured by the bullets of the attackers, put a question mark
on the ability of the terrorists.   The attackers could bring a car load of
guns and bullets, hand grenades, powerful explosives like RDX from places
thousands of kilometers away without being detected or checked by any police
or civic authorities, is a matter of surprise even in the RSS circle. The
RSS which usually take such attack on them seriously and go for nationwide
protest, unusually kept extraordinary silence and the morning Shaka at the
Head Quarters went on with more people attending it.   It was a surprise
even among the cadres of RSS. This also has created among their
functionaries doubt over the bona fide of the attackers.  However, they
speak in a low voice.

Mahanayak, a Marathi news paper from Mumbai, published a title page news
from its special correspondent from Nagpur, with the caption:   "Mahanayak's
Special Story on the Attack on RSS Head Quarters."  The news goes like
this:  There is a talk among the Nagpur police that, of the 11 police who
conducted the encounter, 6 police did not even know how to handle a
carbine.   Some of them were under demotion on account of departmental
disciplinary action, and they were given this 'chance' to prove their
'worthiness.'  Sources close to the police circle say, none of the eleven
cops had special Commando training.  The authorities punished two of them,
for they extorted from a 'gutka' merchant a huge amount (Rs 3.5 lakhs) five
months ago, in the Panchpoli police station area. At the orders of the CP
they were shifted to another 'punishment' section.  Police inner circle is
surprised at the composition of the squad for most of them do not know to
handle guns properly.   The reporter gives details of many indisciplines of
the eleven police personals and wonders how and on what basis they were
selected for Special Squad to handle such an important assignment in the RSS
HQ.

*Observations *

1.       When the police had prior information about possible attack on RSS
Head Quarters and the police were prepared, as stated by the Commissioner of
Police (CP), to handle possible attack, why did they allow the attackers to
go close to the RSS HQ? Why did the Police not stop them at first sight?

2.       We hear from the residents, that the police had a kind of rehearsal
to the 'encounter' few days back on the same spot. Police even fired on air
on the occasion, they claim. And when the actual encounter took place, these
residents said, they first thought that it was yet another demonstration.
Why did the police take a demo few days ago?

3.       The CP has said, "when the ambassador car with red beacon atop
moved towards RSS HQ, one of the constables in the Tata Sumo casually asked
the young occupants about their intentions. Rattled by the inquiry the
militants opened fire on the police vehicle even as they tried to get away."
For the constable to ask casually, either he must have brought his car (the
police vehicle) side by side to the terrorist vehicle or he (the constable)
come by foot close to terrorist vehicle (and asked them). In either case the
constable must have been exposed to the terrorist attack at close quarter.
How did the constable escape unhurt? The narration of the incident doesn't
have any detail to clarify this.

4.       There is no eyewitness to the whole happening. The encounter took
place according to the police at 4.15 AM. The bodies of the assailants were
removed even before the press reporters (who were the first people other
than the Police), reached the spot, close to 5.00 AM. Why this hurry?

5.       Day one media report says, Deputy Commissioner Mr Prabhat Kumar was
in the patrolling team and he smelled foul and started tailing it in their
unmarked blue Tata Sumo. Why did the CP not bring him (Mr P Kumar) in his
(CP) narration of the encounter? Why did CP hide the DCP?

6.       Another report says that the patrolling police that tailed the
ambassador at one point "presumed the car might have gone towards Ayachit
mandir the police stopped the chase for a while. However when the police
jeep came back to the same place during their routine patrol, they noticed
the same car in a small alley between Lakdipul and Gajanand Mandir towards
the eastern gate of the RSS Head Quarters. As the point where the police
missed the ambassador car and the place where they saw them again are the
same small alley, do the police mean to say that the attackers were waiting
over there until then?

7.       It is said that the attackers' car tried to force its way through
the barricade. The said barricade was installed a couple of weeks before
June 01 2006, in the aftermath of weapon seizure from antisocial elements in
the State. When the attackers came where were the sentries posted at the
barricade? They must have been the first one to stop the terrorists or get
attacked by the terrorists. Where were they?

8.       The exchange of fire took place for twenty minutes, it was
reported. Can anyone explain how the police disabled the terrorists from
using the dozen hand grenades and the 360 rounds of bullets?

9.       That the terrorists had 12 hand grenade, 360 rounds of
bullets, 5.6Kgs of highly explosive material which was later stated to
be RDX, and they
battled for twenty minutes 'hopelessly' not using any of them, is a
narration that fails to convince common sense.

10.   It was reported that the police recovered from the terrorists' vehicle
a sealed case containing 12 hand grenades. The terrorists coming on a deadly
mission carrying their munitions in sealed cases does not comply the logic
of terrorist attack. They did not even open them when they were fighting for
20 minutes in a losing battle makes the narration all the more unconvincing.

11.   That the terrorists, reported to be 'fidayeen' who chose to travel on
white ambassador car with red beacon atop, not knowing what is the official
protocol but chose to wear PSI dress, does not comply with the statement of
the CP that the terrorists were a trained fidayeen.

12.   The reported information that the police recovered wet underwear and
soaked bathing soap from the white ambassador car suggests that they could
not have been 'terrorists' on a mission involving their very life.

13.   The police declared them as 'Islamic' terrorist and Pak based
'fidayeen'. The stated seizure of a diary containing all their names and
their own telephone numbers sounds farce. Usually we do not write our own
telephone numbers in our dairy. Terrorists of deadly mission carrying a
dairy with their own identities when they were on an attack, do not appeal
common sense.

14.   Even if the police had found a dairy belonging to the attackers, how
did they decipher the code names and codified messages in so short a time
that in less than 10 hours the CP could reveal their identity as 'Islamic'
terrorist and 'fidayeen'? (the history of terrorist attack tells clearly
that the terrorist do not carry written documents. If they have to write any
they choose to write in codes and false names.)

15.   What authentication did the police possess to finally declare them as
Muslim and bury them according to Islamic rituals? What was the hurry to
bury the dead bodies of the terrorists without establishing their identity?

16.   Few holes on the walls (opposite to Bharat Mahila Vidyalay) are, said
by the CID official present at the site, as bullet marks. Two of the six
marks found to be marks of bullets fired from right across, at 90 degree.
One bullet mark, as marked by the police on the Bharat Mahila Vidyalay wall
too clearly indicates that the bullet was fired at 90 degree. Were the
police and their vehicle come side by side the terrorists? It was amusing,
that the police officer present at the time of the team's visit to the spot,
told that bullet fired by police present down the lane, from behind the
terrorist vehicle possibly took an aerial curve and hit the wall at 90
degree.

17.   There is hardly any mark of terrorist bullets on the other side,
except on Police vehicle.

18.   The blue Tata Sumo vehicle that was tailing behind the terrorist
vehicle had six bullet marks. Two of them at least apparently pistol bullet
marks. The police report did not mention terrorists having used pistols. How
did pistol bullet mark appear on the police vehicle?

19.   The terrorists were reported to have fired from AK-M automatic guns.
The bullet marks on the blue Tata Sumo of the police bear bullet marks that
are all single shot marks. There is no series of bullet marks (which is
expected of if the opponent was using an automatic gun) that raises the
doubt over nature of exchange of fire.

20.   One bullet hole was found (in the police blue Tata Sumo vehicle) on
the right side front door from inside. The point of hit was almost at the
hip of the driver. Had the driver been on his seat he must have been hit.
There was no report. It is clear that the driver was not in the seat at the
time of firing. We found bullet marks on the same police vehicle hit from
three angles on the left side of the vehicle. Three bullets were 45 degree
from behind, two bullets 90 degree on the left and one bullet130 degree
further that hit just below the front windshield.

The question is, if the vehicle is not on the move during the attack, (as
the bullet did not hit the driver), then how did the bullet mark appear from
three angles? This question assumes significance as it was not possible for
the terrorists to move to such wide range and fire from all three angles,
for, they were caught in their vehicle that was trapped in a narrow alley
and they were immobilized.

21.   Mr S P S Yadav, Commissioner of Police is reported to have said,
"Looking at their preparation and determination to storm RSS HQ at any cost
despite heavy police deployment, indicates that it was a 'fidayeen' attack."
This conclusion of the CP amounts to be hasty in his decision; or the
terrorists were in his hand prior to the encounter, for him to know about
them in detail.

22.   On the site of the encounter was parked a white Maruti Omni car at the
premises of Mr Jopat, the compound wall being fenced by barbed wire. As the
house is the first one in the lane (in front of which raised the barricade)
and the attackers are in side the lane, if the police wanted to target the
attackers, they should have gone some where behind this Maruti Omni car.
When there was over 140 rounds of fire, there is not a single bullet mark on
the vehicle. This creates strong doubts over the nature of reported
encounter.

*Proposal:*

The above raised scores of doubts arise in the mind of every citizen who
looks at the whole happening without any bias.   The team wanted simple
clarifications for these doubts, from the Commissioner of police, Nagpur and
approached him continuously for five days.  That the CP persistently
declined to meet the team and answer these simple strait queries, reveal his
unwillingness / inability to face these fair queries.  It also suggests that
he chose to hide certain facts from the masses.

All these confounding happenings lead the team to question the veracity of
the Commissioner of Police's narration of the encounter.   The 'Cock and
Bull' story of the encounter thus compels the team to infer that the
encounter appears to be fake and requires, at the interest of the nation
society, a fair probing.  The team therefore, calls upon the Central
government to appoint a Judicial Enquiry Committee headed by retired Judge
of the Supreme Court and probe the whole episode.
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