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TOI : Pune: Rattled by the terror attack in Mumbai, the Pune police stepped up security on Thursday. More than 8,000 police personnel have been pressed into service across the city as a preventive measure.

Joint commissioner of police Rajendra Sonawane (law and order) said a high alert has been sounded in the city since late Wednesday. Strict instructions have been issued to all police stations to adopt precautionary measures to avert any untoward incident. Security has been beefed up at railway stations, state transport bus stands, malls and religious places.

Sonawane said several nakabandi operations are on in the city. Checking of vehicles is being done at 36 strategic points, including Pune railway station, Jehangir hospital chowk, College of Engineering chowk, Bhakti Shatki chowk, Pimpri chowk, Otta scheme in Nigdi, Dighi check post, Chandani chowk, Kothrud and Ambegaon.

Directions have been issued to five star hotels to beef up security arrangements. They have also been instructed to install metal detectors

at entry and exit points, use hand-held metal detectors for frisking customers and X-Ray machines to check baggage, and also install close circuit cameras for monitoring movements of visitors.

Sonawane said special attention was being given to tourist places like Osho Ashram, Shaniwarwada and the Aga Khan palace, among other such crowded places, which are prone to attacks.

When asked whether any preventive action had been taken against criminals who were likely to create trouble, Sonawane said activities of certain suspects was being closely monitored. He, however, refused to divulge details about the operation.

On the closure of a large number of educational institutions, Sonawane said the managements should have refrained from closing down the institutes as it would send a wrong message and create unnecessary panic.

He appealed to members of the public not to fall prey to rumours and advised them to…More

TOI : Pune: Security measures have been stepped up at the Pune railway station and Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) bus-stands following the terror attack in Mumbai.

Railway officials told TOI that security has been tightened and more security officials have been deployed at the railway station. Search drives were also being conducted in the station area.

The officials said all trains between Pune and Mumbai CST were running as per schedule. Long-distance trains going via Pune were also on time.

V.S. Bhalerao, controller at the MSRTC bus station, told TOI that buses between Pune and Dadar were running as per schedule. However, the timetable was rescheduled due to the reduction in the number of passengers.

Y.K. Singh, public relations officer, Central Railway, Pune railway division, said the railway protection force (RPF) and government railway police (GRP) have tightened security at the station. “A meeting of top officials was conducted on Thursday morning to review the security aspects,” he said.

Rajendra Rupanwar, divisional security commissioner, RPF, said various measures were being taken. “Quick reaction teams have been deployed at stations. Four or five security officials and a security officer are being deployed on every train going to Mumbai. We are also identifying sensitive points at stations. More security is being deployed at the entry and exit gates and reservation centres,” he said.

“All the railway stations in Pune division have been put on high alert. The dog and bomb disposal squad are on alert. The inspection drives at the station have been increased,” Rupanwar said.

A GRP official said commuters were being told not to touch any unidentified object. “Checking was carried out in one of the long-distance trains on Wednesday night at Pune railway station, but nothing suspicious was found,” he added.

Meanwhile, there was a big drop in the number of people…More

TOI : Pune: The otherwise busy Pune-Mumbai expressway wore a near-deserted look on Thursday as vehicles moved in a trickle following the terror attack in Mumbai.

“Overall vehicular traffic has been reduced to less than 30 per cent of the normal traffic flow,” authorities at the Urse toll plaza told TOI.

A visit to the expressway on Thursday noon revealed that the number of vehicles heading to Mumbai were far fewer than those coming to Pune. A few Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation buses, trucks and police vehicles were seen on the expressway.

“In the morning, there was very little vehicular movement. The traffic increased marginally in the afternoon,” said Jagdish Gurubakshani, who manages the toll plaza.

Inspector Pradeep Aphale of the Talegaon police, who was present at the toll plaza to supervise the checking of vehicles shortly after reports of the terror attack came in on Wednesday night, said there were hardly any passenger vehicles after midnight. “Most of the traffic comprised trucks. The only other vehicles were those of Haj pilgrims returning home,” he told TOI.

Meanwhile, all vehicles entering Pune city limits, including state transport buses, were being checked thoroughly by the police near the Nigdi octroi post since Thursday morning. The identities of the persons were being ascertained and their luggage was being checked. The traffic police had also put up barricades to restrict vehicular movement.

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Police pay tribute to Kamte

Several police personnel, including senior officers, from Vadgaon, Talegaon and Dehu Road, paid tribute to Mumbai’s additional commissioner of police Ashok Kamte at the Urse toll plaza when his body was being brought from Mumbai to his residence at Pimpale-Saudagar on Thursday afternoon. Kamte was killed in the terror attack in Mumbai.

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TOI : Pune: Three policemen from the neighbouring Satara district were killed in the terrorist attacks in Mumbai on late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning. Satara superintendent of police Prakasah Mutyal confirmed the deaths of the three policemen, Ambadas Pawar from Kavthe in Wai taluka, Jaywant Hanmant Patil from Kadegaon and Tukaram Ombale from Kadambe village.

All three were working with the Mumbai police. Their mortal remains were on the way to Satara on Thursday.

Among them, Pawar was a bodyguard of ATS chief Hemant Karkare, who also succumbed in the attack.

The Satara police and the district administration on Thursday organised a condolence meeting and paid homage to the martyrs.

Former minister Udayanraje Bhosale, who was also present at the meeting, said after the policemen from Satara and other officials, including Hemant Karkare, Ashok Kamte and Vijay Salaskar, laid their lives for nation, there is a need for the police force to be well-equipped with modern weapons to tackle such attacks.

Schools in Satara were closed on Thursday and various organisations had arranged condolence meetings across the district.

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TOI : Aurangabad/Kolhapur: Police officials in Aurangabad and Kolhapur are saddened at the death of state Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare, additional commissioner of police Ashok Kamte and encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar who died fighting terrorists in Mumbai on Wednesday night.

“It’s shocking. Hemant Karkare was a very dear friend of mine,” said a visibly moved Aurangabad police commissioner K.L. Bishnoi. “What reaction can I give on such a tragic event? The grief cannot be expressed in words.” Bishnoi, before his transfer to Aurangabad, had worked with Karkare in Mumbai.

Karkare (54) lost his life in an encounter with the terrorists at hotel Taj.

“He was simply superb. He could handle any difficult situation boldly and with a cool mind,” recalled assistant commissioner of police Thakur Deepaksinh Gaur, who worked with Karkare at Aurangabad and Nanded.

“The Shetkari Sanghatana agitation was at its peak in 1986-87 and we saw Karkare handling the situation with ease and tact,” said Gaur adding, “His death and that of other officials is a rude shock to the entire force.”

“Vijay Salaskar was a daredevil officer,” said an emotional police inspector Khushalchand Baheti, a batchmate of the encounter specialist. “He was special to us in many ways.”

In Kolhapur, police officials who had worked with Kamte and Salaskar expressed their grief over the death of their heroes. Kamte had worked in Kolhapur as district superintendent of police from July 2004 to March 2005.

Sachin Desai, a police constable, remembered Kamte for his compassion. “I was trying to get recruited in the department on compassionate grounds. Though I had gone through all possible tests earlier and had all required documents, I was not selected. When Kamte took charge as superintendent of police, I approached him with my documents. Twenty-seven other youths also accompanied me and after hearing our cases, he immediately recruited…More

TOI : Pune: Puneite Nikhil Dixit, who was recently transferred to Mumbai, was one of those who witnessed the terror attack at the Taj hotel on Wednesday night from as close as 300 metres and could hear people inside the iconic building screaming for help.

“It was a nightmarish experience – one that I cannot forget in a lifetime. I was attending a birthday party with around 20 friends at Koyla restaurant very close to the Taj. All was well until we were just about to leave. We started getting phone calls around 11 pm that firing was going on inside the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus,” Dixit told TOI.

He recalled that he and his friends were unaware of what exactly was happening and decided to stay put at the restaurant until things returned to normal.

“But that did not happen as within a few minutes, we ourselves heard the sound of gunfire from the Taj. We were on the terrace of the Koyla restaurant at the time. We were really scared as we realised that the terrorists were so close that some of them might even be present in our restaurant,” Dixit said. “Just the thought gave me the shivers.”

He added that the worst came when they saw a high-intensity blast on one of the top floors of the Taj, after which they heard people scream for help.

“We could hear their screams, but we felt helpless. We were in a state of panic and waited for an opportunity to head home. It was around 7 am that we managed to leave when there was a lull in the activity for an hour or so. We could have been trapped inside the restaurant longer had we waited for some more time, as there was another round of firing soon,” Dixit said.

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TOI : Pune: Three columns of infantry from the Southern Command left for Mumbai on early Thursday morning to help tackle the terrorists at Taj, Trident hotels and other places in Mumbai.

Around 250 army personnel from Pune have gone to take part in the anti-terrorist operations in Mumbai. A few junior commissioned officers (JCOs) and other officers are accompanying the team.

Of these three columns, two are from the 18 Sikh Regiment at Ghorpadi, while one column is from the 17 Rajputana Rifles. Two bomb disposal teams from the Khadki Bomb Disposal Company and one mine detection team from the Bombay Engineer Group (BEG) have also left for the operations, a press release from the Southern Command said.

“We have sent three columns to Mumbai. Each of it has 70-75 men. These people were moved to Mumbai on early Thursday morning by road,” the Southern Command officials told TOI, adding “Unmanned vehicles for bomb detection are also accompanying the team. These are remote-operated vehicles and if more help is required, we will provide it. The team from Pune is working with the armymen and other security agencies based in Mumbai. ”

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TOI : Pune: Taking a cue from the incidents that took place in Mumbai Wednesday night, Pune’s high-end hotels have tightened security to ensure the safety of guests and customers.

The city’s oldest five-star hotel Taj Blue Diamond at Koregaon Park has restricted entry to its property by placing guards and security personnel. Anybody wanting to enter the hotel premises was required to tell his name and the purpose why he/she was there.

Inside the hotel, however, the business seemed as usual, though there was an uneasy silence in the lobby. The hotel’s public relations executive told TOI that she was not authorised to make statements on behalf of the company. She directed this correspondent to Ms Vinifer in Mumbai who could not be reached.

Gopan Krishnan, director of marketing at Le Meridien hotel, said the hotel’s security systems were refurbished recently and now among the best in the country. The security staff have, however, been told to be doubly sure by asking every entrant to walk through the metal detector besides using a handheld detector. All cars were being checked as well.

“There is nothing in particular that we have done as a reaction to the incidents in Mumbai, but we have equipment including high-end surveillance cameras and also a specially devised baggage-tracking mechanism that help us know anything unusual taking place,” Krishnan said.

Chittaranjan Behl, general manager, Sun-n-Sand, echoed Krishnan when he said, “We have not done anything specific today. We have been receiving signals for some time about the threat to star hotels and have worked closely with the police for training of our staff.” Behl added that the hotel security has been tightened in terms of baggage inspection which the staff is doing with the co-operation of guests. Additionally, any guest who is coming without a reservation is being asked to prove his identity and citizenship credentials….More

TOI : Aurangabad: A red alert has been sounded in the Marathwada region in view of Wednesday’s terrorist strike on Mumbai. Business establishments and schools were closed on Thursday to pay respect to the policemen and others who died in the attack.

“As a precautionary measure, entry of visitors into the Chikalthana airport here has been banned and the security has been beefed up around the area,” airport controller Vivek Upadhyay told TOI. Six flights are being operated from the airport daily.

Commissioner of police K L Bishnoi has convened a meeting of senior officers, including those from the bomb detection and disposal squad, to review the situation. The police have also increased patrolling and urged people to inform the nearest police station if they spot any new or suspicious person in their vicinity.

People have also been requested not to believe in rumours, said assistant commissioner of police Thakur Deepaksinh Gaur. He said bandobast at airport, railway station and bus-stand, as well as crowded places in the city, has been increased while “strict checking is taking place at all the 12 entry points to the city. Every vehicle is being checked,” he said.

Schools and colleges have also been alerted to keep an eye on new persons or activity on and around the campus, Gaur said. Lodges are being checked and the owners have been asked to inform the police immediately if any unidentified person sought accommodation. They have also been advised to provide rooms after checking the clients’ credentials.

In Nanded, the “situation is completely peaceful and under control,” said superintendent of police R K Singhal.

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TOI : Pune: His crack down on the criminal-politician nexus in the sugar belt of South Maharashtra had won Ashok Kamte, additional commissioner of police, Mumbai, the title of ‘daredevil’.

On Thursday, Solapur and Sangli, where Kamte served as the commissioner of police and the superintendent of police, respectively, mourned the death of an officer who took on politicians who interfered with his work of maintaining law and order. Various organisations have organised condolence meetings to pay homage to the great officer.

Kamte was transferred from Solapur to Mumbai in June this year. He had joined as the commissioner of police, Solapur, on August 4, 2006. “Immediately he made it clear that no political interference in the department will be tolerated. He gained a hero’s status after he took on city politicians with notorious background,” said activist Sanjay Gunjal.

In August 2007, Kamte came into limelight with the arrest of Ravikant Patil, three-time MLA from Indi in Karnataka bordering the south Solapur assembly constituency which was held by his elder brother and Shiv Sena leader Ratikant Patil.

A row had erupted between Patil supporters and the police over bursting of firecrackers during midnight on the occasion of Patil’s birthday. When the police asked the revellers to stop bursting crackers, citing a Supreme Court directive, the MLA’s supporters picked up an argument, forcing Kamte to arrest Patil and his people.

This created an uproar in political circles, but Kamte didn’t budge. He had told TOI: “Law is equal for all and nobody has the right to violate it.”

Though politicians were unhappy with Kamte cracking down on political leaders with shady background, Solapur people supported him whole-heartedly. “He was a daredevil officer who had gained a popularity matching a Bollywood hero. He himself was on the roads to maintain peace after the Khairlanji massacres, so that while other cities in…More