A cobbler couple and an unemployed youth claim to have defused bombs which could have caused more havoc
BANGALORE: Bangalore, it appears has become the city of bomb diffusing experts since Friday’s blasts. While a cobbler and his wife say they diffused a live bomb on Friday night, an unemployed claims to have played the good samartian to save Bangalore from what would have been the ninth blast.
The cobbler couple claim to have diffused the bomb on Friday evening at around 6 pm. The 38-year-old cobbler Saravana.P, says, “On Thursday I sent my wife to fetch water from the KEB quarters. On her way back she brought a pot that was lying beside a tea shop thinking that it would make a comfortable seat.”
“Finding the base uneven, I cut the base of the pot and found a cardboard material connected with a wire. Then I cut the wire. Little did I realise I had diffused a bomb. As the news spread of serial bomb blasts, I suspected that the pot may be a bomb and told my wife to place it back from where she had taken it.”
“Around 9.15 am on Saturday, I told Rajamani.P, the owner of a tea shop about the pot. They told the police who informed the bomb squad which reached the spot at 11.30 am and confirmed the pot to be a bomb.” Rajamani and his wife were taken away for investigation, their children said.
Meanwhile, thanks to the alertness of a jobless youth, the police were able to successfully defuse a crude bomb planted near Forum Mall in Koramangala. Mahesh, 21, says he saw a man in black shirt throw a box inside a flower pot. “Since the images of yesterday’s bomb blasts were still fresh in my mind, I felt suspicious and informed the traffic police”, he said.
Meanwhile, the bombs used in the series of blasts in the city appeared to be “professionally assembled” and police were looking at all angles, including involvement of any foreign hand, the Karnataka police chief said.
Police have not yet detained any persons in connection with the blasts, he said, adding “we have asked the public to come forward and share information on any suspicious objects or persons who appear to be moving about in a suspicious manner.”
The police is also making sketches of a 22-year-old man who may been involved in Friday’s serial blasts. This is being made as per a description given by witnesses. Sources in the home ministry in New Delhi said local modules of Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Taiba or the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (Simi) could be behind the serial attacks.
