… before they hatch!

That was the thought in my mind early this morning when I read a report in the print edition of DNA while having my breakfast. The report mentioned that the Scotland Yard of UK had expressed its desire to meet the Mumbai police in order to understand how the 7/11 case was cracked so swiftly.

Of course I do not know the volume and quality of hard evidence gathered by the crime branch or the ATS in connection with the 7/11 case. But it was pretty clear that most of the case would have been built around confessions from the ‘accused’ who had been arrested by the police. And pretty much everyone knows how short-lived these confessions can be! So… to talk about showing off to Scotland Yard, was pretty premature, in my opinion.

And sure enough, as if on cue… comes another report which informs that the seven accused in 7/11 train bombings had retracted their statements saying that the ‘confessions’ were made under duress! And this, even before the accused have been taken out of police custody (and into judicial custody) where they made the ‘confessions’ in the first place!

Well, I just hope that the claims of cracking the 7/11 case, made in that impressive press-conference by AN Roy and the ATS, were made based on concrete proofs and not just circumstancial evidence along with confessions from the fickle accused!

Two matches into the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy tournament, a couple of things are apparent. The first one is that the empty stands bear a stark contrast to the billing of this tournament as a mini World Cup. The second thing is that if ICC is going to include minnows like Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, they’d better not call this as the Champions Trophy. In fact, the first point I made, is the direct result of the second.

Bangladesh and Zimbabwe are simply not worthy of being included in a tournament like this. Their presence dilutes spectator interest, prolongs the tournament and leads to some embarassing matches, like the one between West Indies and Zimbabwe.

Continue reading at One-Day Mataram…