Country-made bomb found in bus in Bangalore

Country-made bomb found in bus in Bangalore

The Hindu

First instance of an explosive being found in a State-owned bus

BANGALORE: A crude country-made bomb was found inside a Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) bus at the Kempe Gowda bus station on Thursday night.

The police, who diffused the explosive, are yet to ascertain who had planted it in the bus. This is the first instance of an explosive being found in a State transport corporation bus in the city.

The police said that around 10.30 p.m., the bus (route number 87) arrived at the Kempegowda bus station from RPC Layout in Vijayanagar.

A passenger, who was the last to alight the bus, told conductor Devaraj that a small plastic bag containing some object was lying abandoned on a seat.

Mr. Deveraj opened the bag and found it rolled in threads.

He suspected that it could be an object used for "banamathi" (black magic) and gave it to BMTC security guard Pappanna, the police said.

While Mr. Papanna was looking at it, the people told him that it could be a bomb and asked him to alert the police.

On being informed, Krishnappa, a policeman who was on duty at the police outpost in the bus station, alerted his superiors.

Sniffer dogs

The staff of the Bomb Detection Squad rushed there with sniffer dogs.

After it was confirmed that it was an explosive substance, the personnel of Bomb Disposal Squad, attached to the State Intelligence wing, were summoned.

They took the explosive to a secluded area on Mysore Road and safely diffused it in the presence of Commissioner of Police Neelam Achuta Rao in the early hours of Friday.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Gopal B. Hosur told The Hindu that such crude bombs, called "balloli" in north Karnataka, were normally used in the Rayalseema district of Andhra Pradesh.

The bomb would not have exploded unless it was hurled, he said.

Surveillance cameras

The BMTC has decided to install surveillance cameras at all its major bus stations within a month.

The decision comes consequent to finding a bomb in a BMTC bus, said Dastagir Sharief, Chief Traffic Manager, in a press release here on Friday.