Bomb blast rocks ex-Minister's house

Bomb blast rocks ex-Minister's house
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NEW DELHI, JULY 7: A low-intensity, crude bomb went off at 9:15am near the Subhash Nagar house of Delhi's former industry minister, Harsharan Singh Balli. Nobody was injured in the blast. Another four bombs were seized by the police and diffused.

The bombs were found around 8am in the make-shift lavatory for the guards of the Rajasthan Armed Constabulary, posted for the security of the former minister. ``The sweeper found them in a bag when he was trying to fix the water supply to the lavatory. He brought out the bag from there and kept it in the open,'' said one of the guards.

Later, as somebody tried to fiddle with it, one of the bombs went off, it is learnt. According to the police, some of the BJP activists present were trying to take a closer look at the bomb when it fell and exploded. Balli has been receiving threatening calls for quite some time, said his family. ``About a year and a half ago, he had received two calls, threatening to blow him (Balli) and his house,'' said Baljeet Kaur Balli, the former minister's wife. After the last elections too, the threats kept coming, she added.

``Last month, the caller even called up the police control room threatening him. He spoke for five minutes,'' she said. According to the police, the callers who threatened Balli had been making calls from cash card and that was why the calls could not be traced.

Following the calls, Balli was accorded security sometime after June 10 this year. The former minister had reportedly been provided with an escort Ambassador car, five personnel from the Delhi Police as well as from the Rajasthan Armed Constabulary. Later today, a dog squad was brought by the police to scan the premises.

Meanwhile, Balli himself had left for Lucknow early in the morning to attend a marriage ceremony, the family said.