MUMBAI: Refuting allegations of torture levelled against it by persons arrested in connection with the train bombings here and the Malegaon blasts, the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of Maharashtra Police on Tuesday said they were "meticulously" going by the Al Qaeda manual.
"They are meticulously following the manual, which has a list of steps to be taken by suspects caught by any law enforcing agency," ATS chief K P Raghuvanshi said.
"The manual says at the beginning of the trial, one or more of the brothers must insist on proving that torture was inflicted by the security agency and complain to the court about maltreatment in prison... and the terrorists are following it exactly," he said.
According to ATS, there is no truth in allegations levelled by the arrested persons and these are part of a "ploy to frustrate the investigators".
Reading out points from the Al Qaeda manual, Raghuvanshi said a copy of it was supplied to the ATS by the state intelligence department.
"The accused are also mentioning the names of security officers who tortured them just like it is written in the manual," he claimed.
Raghuvanshi's comments came a week after Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil's remarks that human rights commissions had turned into a "hurdle" for investigators.
