Police scotches speculation over ultras taking refuge in Bangalore

Bangalore City Police Commissioner Neelam Achyuta Rao has scotched speculations over the ultras behind for the serial blasts in Mumbai taking refuge in Bangalore.

Participating in a function organised to felicitate traffic wardens in Bangalore on Sunday, Neelam Achyuta Rao denied that the security agencies had any clue about terrorists holed up in Bangalore.

He also sought to clarify that the no police team from outside the State visited Bangalore to question suspects. “No police team from either Delhi or Mumbai have visited Bangalore after the blasts”, he said.

The Bangalore City Police Commissioner’s clarification comes in the wake of rumours that militants were hiding in Bangalore after executing blasts in Mumbai and police teams from Delhi and Mumbai were scouring the City for them. Media reports had also cited how Sivarasan alias one-eyed Jack had found Bangalore to be a safe haven after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1992.

However, he said the police in Bangalore has been put on an alert and the security personnel were keeping a vigil. “We have given instructions to land lords to verify the antecedents of the tenants and keep the police informed as a matter of security”, he said.

Meanwhile, the Government has directed the police to maintain special vigil at shopping malls, which are teeming with shoppers, besides public buildings like the Vidhana Soudha - the State Secretariat.

The Government of India has instructed authorities in Bangalore to spruce up security at the shopping malls, which had mushroomed in different parts of the City. “Intelligence reports had suggested that shopping malls could be a soft target for the terrorists”, a senior police official said.

The police officials had sounded out the shopping mall owners on the need to strengthen security. The shopping mall owners had been invited to a meeting with police officials in Bangalore on July 19.