Ten-year-old Ravi, a regular ragpicker at the busy tourist spot, fished it out with trembling hands. Knowing full well that for once he had found something of value, Ravi called for his uncle Vinod Krishna, a sweeper, to inspect the device and then called for help.

“I could see it was a bomb — it had wires dangling from it. I was the first to see it,” said Ravi, who accompanies his uncle every day from Nizamuddin. “Uncle told me to take it to a deserted side of the park. Then he called the constables who were patrolling the area and the bomb was defused,” he added, hardly able to believe he actually saved so many lives. The bustling area was evacuated within minutes of the detection of the bomb.

Live bombs were also found in a dustbin at Regal Cinema and at Central Park in Connaught Place. Another ragpicker found the bomb at the cinema hall, wrapped in a black polybag, and informed beat constable Suresh. Suresh, who tried removing the wires, luckily managed to defuse the bomb without expert help.

Sub-inspector Rajesh Kumar Maurya, who was patrolling India Gate, said, “The bomb detected here looked exactly like the ones that were found in Surat. We found it at around 7.30 pm and began evacuating the people from the spot, which was cordoned off for further inspection. Had the bomb exploded here, it would have been a shame for the police.”

“The first unexploded bomb was recovered near India Gate, while the one at Regal Cinema was found soon after,” said Ajay Kashyap, Joint Commissioner of Police.