MUMBAI, February 27: Three explosions in the North-West suburbs today left four dead, 22 injured and lakhs in the grip of a temporary fear psychosis. Even as condemnation and corrective measures were executed, Mumbaikars were swift in regaining their composure to gear up for Saturday's second and final phase of Lok Sabha polling in the State.The crude bombs were seemingly aimed at creating a panic wave on election eve. But the effect was fleeting. The resilience of the Mumbaikars was all too apparent as public transports, educational institutions, offices, commercial establishments and life in general went about in near-normalcy after rumours gave way to facts.
Additional Chief Secretary (Home) C Venkatchary said that preliminary reports indicate that the crude bombs were detonated to create a calculated panic. ``We have been told by the investigating officials that RDX was not used in the bombs.'' Venkatchary added thus far no link has been established in the blasts.
However PS Pasricha, JointCommissioner of Police (Law and Order) opined: ``Since the blasts were concentrated on the Western Railway it could be part of large conspiracy, though the bombs were of low intensity explosives.''The chronology of the explosions.
Blast one: Two dead, four injured at Golibar, Santacruz in North West Mumbai. A man and a woman were killed and four others injured when a bomb went off from a briefcase dropped by a man.
Blast two: One dead, 14 injured after a bomb was hurled on the south end of a crowded platform No 2 at Kandivli Railway Station.
Blast three: One killed while carrying an explosive near a Gujarati school, 200 metres from Virar Railway station.
The first bomb went off around 1.35 p.m ripping through the front portion of room no 8, Bara Qureshi Chawl, in the heavy-populated settlements of Golibar at Santacruz (East).
Another bomb was found about 15 feet from where the blast. It was, however, defused by bomb squad experts.
Sayed Fatema (45), who was washing clothes, and Ghulam Mustafa, whohad come home for lunch, died. Ashfaq Karim, Ranjana Raj Ghor and Noor Mohammed escaped with injuries.
While Ranjana is still in the hospital, Noor Mohammed was discharged after getting first aid. Ashfaq Karim was shifted to the Nair Hospital after preliminary treatment at the VN Desai Hospital. He is under arrest on suspicion of being an accomplice though another unidentified person decamped after abandoning his explosive-filled bag on the streets.
Initial investigations provided little insight into the blast, but injuries indicated that the bomb went off when it was being carried to an another spot in the locality. More than two persons were involved in the blast.``A deafening sound knocked me out. When I regained consciousness, a cloud of smoke filled the vicinity with smell of LPG. When I looked back, there were three men lying in a pool of blood,'' Ranjana Rajghor (45) told Express Newsline after she was admitted to the nearby VN Desai Hospital.
According to the police, the bomb went offwhen Ashfaq Mohammed Karim (28) was carrying the explosive in a torn black plastic bag. He was injured seriously below the knees.
Official and eyewitness reports from the scene, minutes after the blast, revealed that Karim was trying to remove the bomb to a safer place when he stumbled on a waterpipe and fell on the ground.
The impact of the fall probably lead to triggering the explosive. The area was cordoned off and a platoon of the BSF was immediately deployed to main law and order in the area. The blasts were not entirely unexpected as a number of alerts were issued by the central intelligence agencies.
Express Newsline (February 18 and 25) had reported the presence of floating contraband of arms and explosives which the crime branch and other agencies, including the coast guard, were on trail.
The police have now sealed all the exit and entry points to the city. This includes railways, airports and check-points with the special police parties have launched fine-tooth combing operation.Already an additional 2500 para-military forces are in the city which is already experiencing daily combing operations and naka bandis.
In another incident, a teenaged crude bomb carrier was killed near the Gujarati school, at Virar (West), barely 200 metres from the Railway Station. Luckily no one else was injured.
According to the Police, the victim was carrying the explosives around his body which accidentally went off blowing his body to pieces. ``Luckily the school's afternoon break had just ended, otherwise the tragedy would have been unimaginable,'' Police sources said. Residents of the area said, the boy was seen roaming around the school at about 3.15 pm. ``We got suspicious as the boy was wearing clothes similar to the school uniform. Suddenly there was a big blast and the there was no sign of the boy,'' a shop owner said.A rickshaw driver, an eye witness to the explosion, said: ``I heard an explosion. The boy whom I had just passed barely 100 metres away was blown to pieces.''
A mute, butgraphic witness, to the timing of the Kandivli blast was an old clock at the railway station. It stopped ticking at 3.00 p.m. Not much later, the explosion also stopped the ticking of a youthful heart. Mahendra Sanghvi (24) succumbed to his injuries on way to Bhagwati Hospital where two of the 13 admitted -- Dattatray Gite (35) and Haridam Dubey (30) who were injured below the waist -- are in a serious condition. Mercifully seven were discharged after medical attention. The platform was temporarily sealed for police inspection. Up local services were brought to an abrupt halt following the blasts for about 30 minutes. The services were resumed after 4 pm. SD Shinde, Deputy Superintendent (Western Region) reckons the bomb must have been placed somewhere near the platform chairs.``The absence of wires or a timer suggests that the bomb was a country-made one,'' he said.
Another vendor claimed a Borivli-bound train which entered the adjoining platform a few minutes after the blast might have saved a few lives.``Some of the injured were bundled into the train and taken to Borivli,'' he said adding that this might have saved time on the road.
Some ran scared. Commuter SK Singh banged his head against an iron pole while running away the scene of the blast. ``The blasts refreshed memories of the 1993 serial blasts (which claimed more than 200 lives). I feared there would be more explosions and kept running for about a kilometre away from the station,'' he said.
Over 50 Railway Police and Bomb Disposal Squad officials were deployed in the platform to control hundred of commuters, who assembled after hearing the incident. Also rushing to the spot were Joint Police Commissioner (Crime) RS Sharma and Deputy Police Commissioner (Detection) KL Prasad.
A WR official said, an unidentified person called after the Kandivli blast to say that another bomb was planted in Borivli Police station. ``We kept searching the bomb for at least half an hour, but sighed a relief latter as nothing was found,'' said the officer.
Suchcalls cannot be ignored. In fact, just outside the Kurla station a crude bomb was found in an airbag which was defused by the bomb detection and and disposal squad at around 5.00 p.m.
Later, Venkatchary and Chief Electoral Officer DK Shankaran told mediapersons at Mantralaya: that in view of the immediate steps taken by the alliance government, polling process will not be affected. Both Mr Shankaran and Mr Venkatchary said additional paramilitary force would be deployed in sensitive areas of the metropolis. ``We expect incident free polling tomorrow. Law-enforcing officials will be more mobile and visible,'' they said.
Venkatchary said since Mumbai will be the natural target, the centre had alerted us about the possibility of such incidents. Law-enforcing agencies were put on red alert and additional police force was deployed in sensitive areas. But he ruled out the possibility of seeking help of the army.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
