Police suspect international gang behind Bangalore blasts
By IANSTuesday, April 20, 2010
BANGALORE - Clues from the explosive material found outside the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium where twin blasts occurred and two crude bombs were recovered during the last weekend indicate the hand of an international gang, a top police official said Tuesday.
“Clues from the site where the twin blasts occurred Saturday and explosive material collected Sunday indicate the crime could have been committed by an international gang or a betting mafia,” Karnataka Director-General of Police Ajay Kumar Singh told reporters here.
Though the police are investigating all angles to nab the suspects behind the incidents, which led to shifting the two semi-finals of the Indian Premier League (IPL)-III T20 tournament to Mumbai from this tech hub, no arrests have been made even four days after the twin blasts injured 10 persons and caused panic among the people.
“Analysis of the explosive materials is going on. We are working on multiple leads to zero-in on the suspects,” Singh said.
The twin blasts, one near the stadium’s gate number 12 and another outside the stadium, delayed by an hourthe start of the last league match of IPL here between home team Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians.
A third crude bomb was found on the roof of a ticket counter at gate number 8 when the three-hour match was in progress and about 40,000 fans were engrossed inside the flood-lit stadium.
The police also recovered two crude bombs near VIP gate number 1 and on the pole of a billboard near gate number 9 Sunday during the combing operations that were carried out to sanitise the stadium in run-up to the scheduled semi finals April 21-22.
Citing a Supreme Court order banning the police from revealing more while investigations were on, Singh said he also would not rule out the hand of terrorists in the blasts till the culprits were nabbed and interrogated.
“Preliminary investigations reveal that the suspects behind the incidents are well trained. As of now, we are not ruling out anything, including the hand of terrorists. We are waiting for the forensic report on the explosive material and analysis of the camera footage from gate number 12,” Singh said.
