Blast kills one, injures three at busy street in Bengaluru

 

Bengaluru, 28 Dec 2014: A woman was killed, and several sustained injuries when a low intensity bomb went off outside Coconut Grove Restaurant on Church Street on Sunday evening.

 

38-year-old Bhavani from Tamil Nadu, was rushed to Mallya Hospital, succumbed to injuries. Hospital sources said the reason of death was severe bleeding inflicted due to the shrapnel from the low-intensity bomb.

 

"Bhavani had gone to Ameoba bowling alley in Church Street with her children and was heading towards Hotel Empire for dinner when she was hit by the shrapnel," said Subramani, a relative of the victim.

 

City Police Commissioner, M.N. Reddi said that the low intensity bomb went off around 8 p.m.

 

"Blast was carried out to create panic in the wake of new year celebration," Mr. Reddi said.

 

 

Though it was it was a low intensity bomb, pellets sprayed due to the explosion caused injuries.

 

Additional Police including Reserve Police and members of Internal Security Division are on the spot and have cordoned the area. The area is being sanitized to lookout for other possible explosives.

 

Red alert has been sounded in the city and police have stepped up vigil to monitor movements.

 

Mr. Reddi, who is supervising the investigations, recovered call record details for analysis.

 

FSL team is verifying the contents of the bomb to lookout for clues.

 

The security guard of Coconut Grove Restaurant and paan shopkeeper have been detained for questioning.

 

The bomb was believed to be placed between the flowerpots placed on the footpaths outside the restaurant.

 

Another victim narrated the incident. Software engineer Sandeep, who had just come out of Coconut Grove said he heard a loud blast followed by thick smoke. "I thought it was a transformer blast and walked on but realised my left leg was bleeding, " he said adding that his friends took him to HOSMIT Hospital. "I got stitches for the shrapnel injury," he said.

 

Asked if there was any threat perception to the city, Mr. Reddi said, “there has been threat perception in general, in view of the fact that there are festivities, in view of the fact that New Year’s eve coming...”

 

He said there has been “some amount” of threat perception but that has been generic and there has been an alert in general.

 

The country’s information technology hub was hit by bomb blasts in 2008, 2010 and 2013.