Tirumala blast: 8 probes, 1 case

HYDERABAD: It’s beginning to resemble the chaotic Pink Panther series. At last count, the investigations into the assassination bid on Chandrababu Naidu equalled the number of sequels the 1964 Blake Edwards-directed original had -- eight.
The investigative teams are bursting forth on the scene with different nomenclatures and jurisdictions. The only sleuth who can definitely be written out of this case seems to be Inspector Clouseau.
The first investigation into the attack on October 1 was announced even before a case was registered. It was left to policemen from the Alipiri police station to speak to Raju, the driver of the car in which Naidu was travelling to Tirumala, and register a case on Wednesday.
But there were some jurisdictional problems here. The claymore mine attack by suspected People’s War naxalites on Naidu’s convoy took place near the Alipiri checkpost. As this area falls under the Tirumala Two Town police station, the FIR was transferred there. The investigation was carried out by the deputy superintendent of police of Tirupati. Subsequently, the Crime Investigation Department (CID) took over the investigation.
The day after the incident on Oct. 1, the government had rushed its security advisor S Subramaniam to the site to examine security failure that led to the PW attempt. His preliminary work done, Subramaniam has confirmed that indeed there was an intelligence failure.
The government also set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by senior police officer D T Nayak to probe the whole episode from all angles. Nayak too has paid a visit to the holy hills.
Director-General of Police (DGP) S R Sukumara, however, says there is no confusion about the investigations. “The local police and the CID will help the SIT which has been formed for the investigation,� he said.
But what about the rest? On Thursday night, another inquiry officer, Prakash Singh, a former Uttar Pradesh director general of police, arrived in Hyderabad to take up his assignment to look into “security related issues, shortcomings and recommend how to make the CM’s and VIPs security fool-proof�.
The intelligence wing has also got down to the task of probing the lapses in providing security to the VVIP. Not to be left out, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has asked its security wing to find out what went wrong with the arrangements for the chief minister. As the incident involved naxalites, the State Intelligence Branch (SIB) too is trying to get to the bottom of the conspiracy to eliminate the chief minister.