MUMBAI: In the end, all that stood between the terrorists and complete success at the Taj Mahal Palace was a locked door and a cupboard.
Behind the door was the Tajs liquor godown. If the door had come down, the terrorists would have bombed and set fire to it (alcohol is combustible), and the hotel could have been completely destroyed. The terrorists could also have escaped in the confusion.
DNA had privileged access to key closed-circuit TV footage on what the four terrorists were up to at about 1:30am on November 27 at the third floor of the Taj. The footage shows all four terrorists furiously trying to break down the door to the liquor godown, which housed all the alcohol of both wings of the Taj - the heritage hotel and the tower.
Together, the four collectively kicked the door; they also tried to break open the lock by thumping their AK-47s on it for nearly 30 minutes.
Why didnt the door give way? Apparently, there was a huge iron cupboard placed right behind the door
The terrorists also could not achieve a breakthrough because they were under fire from below.
The godown drama began at about 1:30am, just a few hours after the terrorists had gatecrashed into the hotel. After firing indiscriminately for some time, they ran up to the third floor. "Their plan seemed to be to barge into the godown, hurl hand grenades, and set the entire place ablaze," a senior police officer, part of the team now assessing the Taj attack, said.
Senior police officers were at the main control room on the first floor, where all the CCTV footage was being relayed to a centralised system. Sensing that the four were up to something nasty, the police fired a couple of bullets at them. This forced the terrorists to abandon the alcohol godown and run to the sixth floor, spraying bullets in the air.
"As soon as we entered the hotel, we took up positions and started to fire. The terrorists immediately became defensive," said the senior officer.
Police suspect that if the terrorists had been able to breach the liquor godown, they could have caused maximum damage to the heritage structure. In the resulting mayhem, they could have also tried to escape. s_poornima@dnaindia.net
