Security measures outside Stadium not looked into

 
“It is the duty of the City police to monitor security outside the stadium. The police will check out security as and when it is required,” said Additional Commissioner of Police  (Law & Order) M R Poojar.

“The police had inspected the security outside the stadium before the start of the match. We use sniffer dogs to identify suspicious objects or explosives. We monitored the security measures outside the stadium in a similar fashion,” he added.

While commenting on why the police and sniffer dogs failed to identify the bombs, Pujar said, “The bombs were placed on top of the compound wall because of  which the dogs failed to detect them.”

Interestingly, of the five bombs, three were beyond the reach of the dogs as two were hidden behind the flex boards, and the other on top of the compound wall. Of the remaining two, one was abandoned in bushes, while the another was on pavement.

Why did the police fail to identify the bomb that was on the pavement near the bus shelter some 150 feet away from the main gate? Did the dogs fail to ‘smell’ the bomb? Did the police not place that particular stretch for a through check up? Did suspects place the bomb after the check up was over? The City police seem to have no answer for these questions.

No lapse, reiterates Bidari

City Police Commissioner Shankar M Bidari rejected security lapse on part of the City police. He reiterated that till the blast took place security outside the stadium (either on roads or pavement) fell under the purview of the City police. The bombs were placed in an uncovered area. It’s a new responsibility for the police to check such areas in view of the happenings.

“It is very strange for the City police to come out with such silly claims. The sniffer dogs are specially trained to smell explosives. The dogs will stop near the structures, which they can’t climb, and start making some signals. Why did the dogs not make any signals near the flex boards or the wall? Such answers clearly indicates the police did not carry out checking process outside stadium,” commented a few KSCA officials.

It is said that a meeting of the KSCA, IPL private security personnel and the City police took place before the IPL season III took off. But, there was no coordination among the three. Had they frequently discussed security issues, the incident could have been avoided. Moreover, the IPL security men are concerned with only players’ security, said few police officials.