The Maharashtra police has admitted that there was a major security lapse in the handling of the January 25 freak road mishap recently in Pune, in which the allegedly mentally unbalanced State Road Transport Corporation bus driver Santosh Mane caused the deaths of eight persons. Civilians grappled with Mane and overpowered him after 45 minutes, with no help from the elite Quick Response Team (QRT).

The state control room that fateful morning received a call from a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in Pune calling for the QRT, but there were no clear instructions about when, where and for what purpose the special teams were to be sent. There is no entry on record to say that the QRT was activated.

Senior officials have admitted that the police did not follow proper protocol to contain the damage. Given that Pune’s name has figured prominently on the target list of terrorists, the lapse is severe.

Pune has 12 QRT teams comprising 96 commandos who are trained at the state’s elite Force One headquarters. The QRT teams were formed after directives from the State following the Ram Pradhan Committee report on the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai.