Thursday's bomb blast in the heart of Pune - described as a “low-intensity“ one by top cops -could actually have claimed several lives, believe experts, had there been more explosives packed in and more people in the vicinity, instead of closely-parked bikes.
The so-called “low intensity“ of it was such that steel utensils of the next-door Shree Swami Samarth Kripa Snack Centre were torn apart. A steel shutter close to the site of the explosion was marked with holes by the sheer force of the shrapnel that tore through it. The bike was parked barely 10 feet from the ever-packed road from Dagdusheth Temple to Appa Balwant Chowk.
Meanwhile, police and other agencies -who have not yet verified who might have been behind the blast are trying to trace culprits by identifying the `signature' of the Improvised Explosive Device's (IED) make. Agencies are also investigating whereabouts of known members of right wing Hindu organisations, as well as the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and Indian Mujahideen (IM).
The IED, placed in the stolen Hero Honda Splendor, went off around 2 pm in the parking lot of the Vishrambaug and Faraskhana police stations, behind the highly sensitive Dagdusheth Temple, in the busy Budhwar Peth area. The sound of the blast reverberated in an approximately 1.5 km radius. Experts from the Institute of IED Management, CRPF, Pune, said, “Preliminary analyses suggest that the IED comprised ammonium nitrate, ball bearings, iron nails, a 9-volt battery and some other ingredients, which are being examined. Unlike the one used in the 2012 J M Road serial blasts (which had faults in its design), this IED was perfectly assembled -everything was in place, and all explosives were consumed in the blast. There could have been much more damage, had there been more explosives in it.“ A police officer informed, “The motorcycle used in the blast had around three litres of petrol in its tank. There is a suspicion that initially, the culprit wanted to park the bike in the alley between the front portion of the temple and the PS, but did not do so due to tight security.“ Intelligence and Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) officials have launched a hunt for members of several trouble making organisations.
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