‘Anti-sabotage checks not made outside Bangalore stadium’

BANGALORE - Anti-sabotage checks were not conducted outside the M. Chinnaswamy cricket stadium where twin blasts occurred and two crude bombs were recovered last week-end, a top police official admitted Tuesday.

“We had not conducted anti-sabotage checks outside the stadium Saturday when the twin blasts occurred one hour before the Indian Premier League (IPL) T20 match was scheduled to commence. It is not possible to carry out such checks in open places where there is so much of movement of people and vehicles,” Bangalore Police Commissioner Shankar Bidari told reporters here.

Clarifying that the stadium was secure inside and about 2,000 policemen were deployed in and around the stadium for the safety and security of the players and fans, Bidari said the closed circuit television cameras (CCTVs) installed at the gates were switched on at 11 a.m. on the day of match (Saturday) but not before, as there was no match since April 10 when the previous league match was held.

“It was a mistake not to have the cameras (CCTVs) switched on since Friday night. Had it been done, it could have helped the investigation,” Bidari said.

“The first low-intensity explosive, which went off around 3.15 p.m., was placed inside the boundary wall at a height where it could not be detected by even the dog squad. The other explosive was hidden in a bush outside the stadium on a busy thoroughfare,” Bidari recalled.

Refuting media reports of police laxity and security lapses, as two more crude bombs were found on the following morning (Sunday) - one behind a bus stand near the stadium’s gate number 1 and another tied to a pole behind a billboard near gate number 9 - Bidari claimed the anti-sabotage squad did not find them Saturday night.

“Soon after the twin blasts, the anti-sabotage checks were conducted inside and outside the stadium to sanitise the entire area even as the match was in progress. A third explosive material was found with a defective timer near gate number 8 on the roof of a ticket counter and was defused immediately to prevent any untoward incident. No other explosive materials were found later in the night till 11 p.m. when the checks were suspended due to poor visibility and darkness,” Bidari said.