Chavan admits ATS goof-up on ‘chacha’

MUMBAI: Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan has admitted to a “serious blunder” by the state’s Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in sharing with the media details about the two suspected terrorists arrested on Saturday.

Mr Chavan told mediapersons at a press conference on the eve of the state legislature’s budget session beginning Thursday that the “Centre was unhappy with ATS chief K Raghuvanshi over the way certain information was given out in the ONGC terror plot case”.

Mr Raghuvanshi had told mediapersons that the two terror suspects — Abdul Latif Rashid and Riyaz Imtiyaz — were being guided by Latif’s uncle Abdul Bashir Khan, who is living in Karachi. This revelation alerted Khan who has since gone into a safe hideout. The so-called ‘chacha’ is also an absconding accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.

After the ATS goof-up, the Union home ministry had rapped the state government for allowing the ATS chief to share the details with the media. The home ministry has asked the state government to take action against “publicity hungry” ATS officials who went to the press at the cost of a proper investigation.

In another development, Mr Chavan reportedly had a clash with NCP leader Ajit Pawar, who holds the portfolios of power and irrigation. The two leaders reportedly had a verbal duel at the cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

Sources said Mr Pawar raised strong objections to the chief minister’s decision to allot ‘plum’ government plots in Pune and Nashik to private developers for a ‘pittance’. Mr Pawar, who is the nephew of NCP chief Sharad Pawar and the guardian minister for Pune district, also confronted Mr Chavan over the latter’s “interference” in the affairs of Pune district.