What can one do if a person decides to become a fidayeen, wraps himself in bombs, goes somewhere and detonates those bombs?

Nothing. No amount of money or preparedness can prevent a terrorist attack. It can happen at any time and at any place in the world. No one can thwart the determination of people who have made it fashionable to become fidayeens.

These are the views of the city’s Police Commissioner, Mr. D. Sivanandhan, who was speaking at the last meeting of the Club on “Terrorism in Mumbai”.

But did this mean that, since terror attacks could neither be prevented nor avoided, the city would remain helpless and vulnerable?

No, said Mr. Sivanandhan, pointing out that since the dastardly attacks of November 26, 2008, the police had taken innumerable steps to meet every challenge.

The city already had a four-tier security system in place and any terrorist daring to attack it in future would meet with extremely stiff resistance and be sternly dealt with.

Industries likely to be targeted in future would be those in the energy and production sectors, as well as the power transmission grids and so on. Given the threat perceptions, it was advisable for industry to set aside 2% of its outlay for security purposes. Mr. Sivanandhan said that since he had assumed charge on June 14, 2009, he had formed a Quick Response Team (QRT) consisting of 1,000 commandos who were stationed in the five regions where the offices of the Additional Commissioners of Police were located.

One hundred men, all of them well trained and fully armed with bulletproof vehicles, bullet-proof helmets, vests, state-of-the-art weaponry and technology were always on alert at the five regional QRTs both during the day and the night.

Another crack unit called Force One had been formed by the Maharashtra government; it was trained in Pune and had already taken up its assigned duties. This force was “equivalent” to the NSG which was controlled by the Union Home Ministry.

Thus, the city now had four layers of defence – the police, the QRT, Force One and, of course, the NSG. All these units could get together and get into action as one if and when necessary. There was now no need to call anybody (in Delhi) to seek permission. Mr. Sivanandhan revealed that state-of-the-art bomb-disposal squads were deployed under every one of the 13 Deputy Commissioners of Police.

Apart from this, 39 “assault vehicles ” were parked at various points in the city. Every one of these had one officer and eight men, with a shortrange and a long-range weapon given to each of the nine men. They used the GPS and the GPRS systems and, as a result, “our people can reach anywhere within five to seven minutes, whatever the distance”.

Most of these vehicles were bullet-proof. Some of the combat vehicles were not bullet-proof and were in the process of being replaced. However, these had been specially designed and the men manning them were well trained and possessed state-of-theart weapons.



Mr. Sivanandhan showed slides of some of the latest weapons acquired from the USA. The Colt M4s were the best that money could buy. NSG and army officers were training the Mumbai Police in their use.


Other arms included the MP5, a sub-machine gun or “sniper” with a long range. It could hit a target at a distance of 3,000 metres (or three km.); the Uzi, a snub-nosed gun; and also 1,000 Smith &Wesson MP9 weapons. Rubbishing all “stories” about the poor quality of bullet-proof jackets (worn by some of those killed in the 26/11 attacks), the Police Commissioner said it was sad that doubts were expressed about their utility.

“No bullet has ever gone through those bullet-proof jackets, even on 26/11. There’s so much of criticism about bullet-proof jackets. I agree that bullet-proof jackets should be thrown away after five years. But we haven’t discarded our 1936 Fiat cars yet. In the same way, bulletproof jackets can be retained.

“They didn’t disintegrate. No bullet has gone through those bullet-proof jackets. You can’t have armour from head to toe. If you do that, you can’t move. You have to take a reasonable risk and go and face the people (terrorists); our men are well trained.” Mr. Sivanandhan said that the police had also acquired bullet-proof speedboats being manufactured at the Goa Shipyard. They had light machine guns (AK-47s) mounted at their nose.

The police had also bought 18 all-terrain amphibious vehicles and was looking at purchasing 1,000 CCTV cameras. Turning to staff welfare measures, he said that all 1,500 men in the QRT units were paid double salaries. Besides, the police control room was being revamped with better equipment and the latest technology. However, “it is not the control room that works; it is the men and the technology that work”.

There was greater stress on “fitness”. While the Naigaum police headquarters had a new gymnasium built at a cost of Rs. 1 crores, the one at the BKC police station had cost Rs. 25 lakhs. Now, it was proposed to have fitness centres at all 89 police stations.

A school was being built at Worli at a cost of Rs. 18 crores for the children of police personnel and the lay public, too. The housing project at Kalina now housed the men of the NSG and of Force One. The Nagpada police hospital would be revamped at a cost of Rs. 6.5 crores. And a library would be set up with at least 10,000 books.

Mr. Sivanandhan said he had started two magazines, one for the police and the other for the public (the latter was more “glitzy”, he said). More senior citizens were now registering with the police, which had set up a site called copconnect.in for interaction with the youth. The alert citizen programme launched in 1998 was being revamped. But the police was always available on telephone numbers 100 and 22633333, he added.

Mr. Sivanandhan stated that a memorial to honour those from the police force who had sacrificed their lives in the 26/11 carnage would be unveiled at the Police Gymkhana on November 26, 2009.

A day-long programme, from 6 am to 10 pm, would be held at the Gateway of India which Ms Lata Mangeshkar, Mr. Amitabh Bachchan and many others would attend to express their feelings solemnly and appropriately.

The speaker was introduced by Programme Chairman Nanik Rupani who said that the 1976-batch IPS officer was earlier a school teacher in Tamil Nadu. He had served as Police Commissioner in Pune and in Nagpur and held several other postings, too. It was during his tenure as head of the Crime Branch that a record number of “encounters” took place that had almost eliminated crime from Bombay.

When asked about his top three priorities now, he said, “Terrorism, terrorism, terrorism”. Mr. Sivanandhan started by saying that Bombay had been a target of attack since 1992/93; it all started with the 13 serial blasts of March 12, 1993, in which 185 people were killed, 757 injured and property worth crores destroyed.

“After that, Bombay has not been the same again. We have had a complete communal divide and so many incidents have taken place, such as the Gateway of India blasts, the Zaveri Bazar blasts, the Ghatkopar bomb blasts and the serial blasts in Western Railway local trains in 2006.

“I was the Police Commissioner of Thane at that time, when 11 blasts took place in the evening in first class compartments of local trains in which about 200 people died and a few hundred more were injured. It was an unforgettable nightmare.

“And then, on November 26, 2008, this very place, the Taj Mahal Hotel, was one of the theatres of war. People went through agony when they lost their near and dear ones. It has got etched in the memory of all those affected by it and associated with the Taj, the Oberoi and other places, including CST, Nariman House and so on.”

Mr. Sivanandhan then described how the men from Karachi in Pakistan came to the city by sea, hijacking the vessel, “Kuber”, owned by a Porbander- based fisherman, and finally using a rubber inflatable dinghy. They were guided by GPS and state-of-theart technologies, including VOIP phones.

They got off at a place opposite Badhwar Park at Cuffe Parade and their area of operation was South Bombay, within a radius of three to four km. They hired taxis to reach their theatres of war. One team placed bombs in their taxi which blew up when it reached Vile Parle.

It appeared as though they had rehearsed their actions many times. They worked with clock-like precision and appeared to be well-trained commandos. They were armed to the teeth with AK-47s, hand grenades and IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and liberally sprayed bullets.

Television news channels and other media had a field day as the terrorists went into action. Thanks to the live coverage provided by them, the whole world had a ringside view of the drama and the trauma that the city was undergoing. Mr. Sivanandhan showed photographs of the action inside the Taj, the Oberoi Hotel, Nariman House and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST).

He lauded the staff of the Taj for doing a “wonderful job”. The police also did their best, with many senior officers remaining present for up to four days in a row. The deeds of two terrorists, Abu Iqbal and Ajmal Kasab, merited greater detail. It was they who planted bombs in the taxi that dropped them off at CST and which blew up at Vile Parle.

At CST, the duo gunned down about 65 people. They then headed for Cama Hospital where Additional Commissioner Sadanand Date had rushed with two of his men. He faced four hand grenades and firing from AK- 47s. But he survived to tell a story of valour and courage.

Next, the terrorists shot, at pointblank range, senior officers Ashok Kamte, Hemant Karkare and Vijay Salaskar and a few others who went to Cama Hospital in a police vehicle. Only one man from this team survived. He, Arun Jadhav, was now deposing in court in the trial against Kasab. Iqbal and Kasab took off in the police vehicle that carried Kamte, Karkare, Salaskar and the others, and made off towards Metro junction where they had a skirmish with the police and indulged in some firing.

They headed towards Vidhan Bhavan where their vehicle became unserviceable. So they commandeered a Skoda (mercifully, they did not shoot down its occupants). Passing by the Oberoi, they sped down Marine Drive before they were finally confronted by the police at Girgaum Chowpatty.

The D.B. Marg Police Station got an alert about the terrorists at 12.45 am. They immediately rushed there and put up barricades. As the Skoda approached, they pushed forward with whatever arms they had and forced the car to a halt. The terrorists came out firing away from their AK-47s.

Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police Tukaram Omble had the courage to walk into the thick of action and, even as the terrorist’s AK-47 was blazing, he took all the bullets in his body but caught him alive. The other terrorist, Iqbal, was killed.



“For the first time in the history of terrorism in the world, a man who had come from abroad, fully armed to the teeth, was caught alive by somebody who gave his life.”

Turning to the action at Nariman House, Mr. Sivanandhan said that the rabbi and his wife were killed but their child Moshe was rescued by the maid. “Thanks to the live TV telecast, the Pakistani commanders were watching and guiding the terrorists. Havildar Gajendra Singh rappelled down from a helicopter on to the terrace of the building (Nariman House) but he was shot as soon as he landed – courtesy the TV and other media who were showing the operation live.”

Finally, Mr. Sivanandhan related the story of a young policeman who went beyond the call of duty to help fight the terrorists at CST.

Ashok Pawar, who was in plain clothes, was going home when he saw an ASI fiddling with his gun which was not firing. Instead of going home, he went up to the ASI and said, “I am Ashok Pawar; I am a constable, here is my card. Can I help you?” He took the gun, set it right and fired at the terrorists.

“They had AKs while our chaps had only a 302 which was not functioning. But he did fire. Kasab saw all this and he went quietly behind a pillar and shot at constable Ashok in the head at point-blank range. Nobody knew that such a thing had happened. But some photographs and other clues revealed the story.

“Such was the courage displayed by the Mumbai Police; a man who should have quietly gone home offered to wage war against well-trained Pakistanis and paid with his life.”

Answering questions, Mr. Sivanandhan said that the QRT and other combat units had no contact numbers. All that a citizen had to do was to call on 100 and inform the police. Suresh Jagtiani lauded the initiatives taken by the police and asked about the paucity of intelligence inputs which, in a way, hampered the preparedness of the force.

The Commissioner said it was not possible for the police to have informants in places like Chittagong, Karachi and so on. Therefore, the impression that the Mumbai Police or the State police should have collected intelligence about the terrorists’ preparations in Karachi and their advent by sea was erroneous.

Intelligence had to come from other agencies such as the Navy, Coast Guards and those assigned the task. As far as his role was concerned, all that he could do was to remain prepared at all times, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

“We have acquired drawings and blueprints of iconic buildings (that are vulnerable) and we are training our men. The next Commissioner has to follow all these things, because if he doesn’t show that he is prepared, any catastrophe can strike at any time.”

Dr. Shailesh Raina asked a pertinent question. Referring to the Commissioner ’s sarcastic comments about the live coverage by the electronic media which benefited the terrorists’ handlers in Pakistan, he wondered whether it was time to curb the media. Mr. Sivanandhan said there was a code of conduct for the media decided by its Commission in Delhi.

But it is followed more in the breach. When an “opportunity” such as 26/11 came about, they jumped at it and stood very, very close to the action, sometimes just a few feet away.

“We should have kept them away, maybe somewhere at Flora Fountain or VT, but it didn’t happen… By law we can keep anybody out of the scene of a crime. We can do it and we will do it… We have to keep them (the media) away; we will do it.”

He also criticised the people who, instead of rushing home and watching TV, were thronging the roads, waiting for things to happen. It was not fireworks that were going off; it was real firing that was taking place. People had to learn to vacate such a scene of action and go to safe places – “not to places where bullets are flying”.

“Whatever has happened (on 26/ 11) has happened, we cannot be pointing fingers but we have to learn a lesson. At least from our side we have learnt a lot. We have improved, we are improving and we will improve.

“We cannot reveal everything that we have done because we have to keep some surprises for the enemy, I’m sure you’ll agree with me. There are a lot of surprises that the enemy will learn if he ever dares to come again.”

The vote of thanks was proposed by Paul George.