NIA may take over July 13 Mumbai blasts

New Delhi, Oct 5: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) may take over the probe into the July 13 blasts in Mumbai as Maharashtra Police has not been able to achieve any major success in its three-month probe.

Official sources said that during yesterday's meeting with Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, State Home Minister R R Patil and top police officers in Mumbai, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram took stock of the progress of the blasts probe and is believed to have suggested that NIA should take over the case.

Chidambaram is understood to have pointed out that lack of coordination between different wings of Maharashtra Police has been a major hindrance to the probe hence to crack the case it should be handed over to NIA.

The Union Home Minister is believed to have suggested to the Chief Minister to personally look after the difficulties being faced by the investigators and conveyed that if these were not sorted out at the earliest, NIA should be allowed to take charge of the probe.

"We have not taken any decision yet. When we will take a decision, we will let you know," a senior Home Ministry official said.

Last month, the Home Minister had said that he was in regular touch with Maharashtra government on the probe conducted by Maharashtra ATS and National Investigation Agency is associated with it from the very beginning.

Asked why the probe into two major terror strikes in recent times -- explosions in Pune's German Bakery and July 13 in Mumbai -- were not handed over to NIA, Chidambaram had said "as long as we are satisfied that the investigation is proceeding on the right lines, we should allow the state police to investigate".

At least 27 people were killed in the three blasts at Zaveri Bazar, Opera House and Dadar Kabutarkhana on the evening of July 13.

PTI