?I have been waiting for this moment for the past three years, and today I was constantly in touch with my colleagues, trying to find out about the verdict,? said Soumen Mitra, deputy inspector-general of police (CID).

As head of the detective department of the city police, it was for Mitra and 15 other officers to crack the American Center attack case.

Three years later, they stand vindicated, their only regret being that two of the accused got away scot-free.

?Dilip Patel and Shakeel Malik were charged with transferring money and facilitating the Ansari gang in the entire operation in many ways. But the court obviously thought that the duo was not directly involved in the attack,? lamented one of the senior officers.

Most did not want to comment on the only setback in the otherwise precisely-executed investigation. ?If and when Ansari appeals in the high court, we will consider whether we want to challenge the acquittal of the two or not,? another officer opined.

Overall, the 15-member police team was very happy at the judgment ? almost pleasantly surprised at the severe punishment.

?Our hard work has paid off. It was extremely difficult to implicate all of them under all the IPC sections, including waging war against the nation and murder. But, collection of evidence, including bringing 124 witnesses and pinpointing the sections against the offenders was smooth,? said Anil Kar, investigating officer of the case, now officer-in-charge of the watch section.