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Blast rips through bus in Mumbai

By Mahesh Vijapurkar

The wreck of the bus after an explosion ripped through it in Ghatkopar, Mumbai, on Monday. — PTI

MUMBAI JULY 28. A powerful explosive device went off on a local bus in suburban Ghatkopar at 9.12 tonight killing one person and injuring over 30 persons, four of them critically. (Agencies put the toll at three.) The blast forced the authorities to sound an alert in Nasik, 200 km away, where several lakh people are expected to come for a holy dip in the Godavari river during the Khumb Mela beginning on Thursday.

The explosion on the moving bus was reminiscent of the one near the same place on December 2 last year, followed by three more the following weeks.

It ripped through the bus, wrecking it and damaged an autorickshaw that was just behind. Traffic in the vicinity too felt the impact of the blast.

The bus was making its routine trip between Ghatkopar and Andheri. Apparently, the device was placed under a seat at the rear.

No one has so far claimed responsibility for the blast, but suspicion centred on the ISI of Pakistan and the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) which, according to authorities, has "close ties with subversive organisations across the border."

Moments after the incident, residents of Ghatkopar who gathered at the spot expressed annoyance that blasts were occurring so frequently in the metropolis.

In connection with the series of blasts — on December 6, 2002, on January 27 and March 13 this year — 23 persons have been arrested and judicial proceedings have begun against them under stringent legal provisions.

The Shiv Sena and the BJP called a `Mumbai bandh' on July 30 to protest against the explosion.

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