Two injured in Delhi blast

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, AUG. 12. The Delhi police are on the look out for three young men, suspected to be behind the crude bomb blast at South Extension in South Delhi late on Saturday night. Two persons sustained minor injuries and two autorickshaws and a car were damaged in the explosion.

Investigations have revealed that the three had boarded an autorickshaw driven by Manager Rai from Sarai Kale Khan and were bound for Sagarpur in South-West Delhi. Teams have been sent to Sagarpur and other places to trace them. A thorough check of hospitals and nursing homes is also being carried out to see if any person with explosion-related injuries has been admitted.

While the exact sequence of events is still not clear, police believe that the explosive material, which was apparently being carried by one of the three, either fell accidentally or was dropped from the autorickshaw following which the explosion occurred.

Police have for the time being ruled out the involvement of any militant organisation. ``The time and choice of place and the explosive material used do not point towards a conspiracy to create a major disturbance,'' a senior police officer said.

Preliminary investigations into the type of material used have suggested the use of low grade explosives. ``Only nails and other shrapnel have been found,'' the police officer added.

Meanwhile, the South Delhi police are zeroing on two possibilities. ``The explosion could be the result of the retaliation from the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) after one of their functionary was arrested in a joint operation in the Capital recently,'' a district police officer said.

Another possibility is that the miscreants might have decided to get rid of the explosive substance to evade detection.

``In view of the stringent security measures taken for Independence Day, they must have found it difficult to take the explosive material all the way to Sagarpur. So they dumped it at South Extension,'' the officer said.

However, police are not ruling out the possibility of the explosive being used to manufacture a more lethal bomb to cause a embarrassment to the police in the run up to the Independence Day celebrations.

Following the blast, senior police officers rushed to the spot and took stock of the situation.

Only on Saturday, Delhi police had announced that there were threats from militant organisations, which also included ``fidayeen'' attacks by teams comprising women.

Meanwhile, security in the Capital has been beefed up following the blast. Senior district police officials are patrolling the sensitive areas in the districts and conducting surprise checks at various places. The police presence in the district has also been increased. Police in the Capital have been put on high alert in view of the incident.

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