| NAGPUR: Giving a clean chit to senior police officials and the state government, the two-member Pradhan Committee's report into last November's Mumbai terror attacks blamed the then Mumbai police commissioner and presently director general of police (housing), Hassan Gafoor, for lack of leadership during the terror attacks. The report cited several lapses on the part of Gafoor, adding that other police officials performed their duties sincerely. In the covering letter attached to the 90 page report presented to Chief Minister Ashok Chavan in July, Ram Pradhan, chairman of the panel, said that Gafoor had failed in handling the terror attacks and that there was an absence of leadership on Gafoor's part and lack of his visible command and control at his office. Pradhan also stated in the covering letter that there were several lacunae in the working within the state government secretariat and the police administration. "Gafoor didn't exhibit adequate initiative in handling the attack and remained rooted at one sport near the Trident Hotel throughout the operations … he failed to give any directions and had not enquired about the ongoing operations. During a crisis like the Mumbai terror attacks, Gafoor should have been in the command center in the control room which might have helped prevent duplication of efforts by different units," Pradhan stated in the letter. Giving a clean chit to the police and the state government, the panel said that they noticed no failure in acting on input provided by the federal intelligence agencies. The war-like attack was beyond the capacity of Mumbai police or any police set-up. It had to be tackled by specialized forces like the National Security Guards (NSG). The panel report also stated there were no serious lapses in the way Mumbai police acted and praised several police officers including lavishing praise on the role of Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria. The panel also again came down heavily on Hassan Gafoor, and said that he did not exhibit adequate initiative in handling the multi-pronged attack and remained at one spot near Trident Hotel through out the operations. For lack of command and control at the police commissioner's office, an impression that the police handled the operation ineffectively was created in the eyes of the public. On the criticism part in the report, the panel said that several senior officers told the panel that Gafoor did not give any directions nor enquired of ongoing operations during those three days of attacks. "We found that although Gafoor kept in touch on wireless and mobile on selective basis, several officers felt that they did not get a feeling that they were part of the team. The panel is of the view that Gafoor should have been in the command center in the control room," the report stated. However, police sources told Arab News that Gafoor has been made a scapegoat by the Congress-led Democratic Front government and that it had used Gafoor when it needed prior to state assembly polls after which they dumped him. The chances of a minority IPS police officer, a Muslim, heading the state police force for the first time have now evaporated into thin air. The mind-boggling question that still remains to be answered is why the acting state DGP Anami Narayan Roy, who was the DGP then, and should have been in the command, was left scot-free and why the services of terrorism expert and former DGP S.S. Virk were not requisitioned by the government, the sources asked. | 