How Andhra cops faked a bomb

PLAIN DRAMA: Footage of the bomb squad 'disarming' a bomb in the masjid premises.

People who read this also read

• Hyd blast accused held in M'rashtra
• CBI roped in for mosque blast probe
• Security measures for Mecca Masjid
• 'More bombs kept to target VIPs'

Hyderabad: On May 18, one of the camera footage showed an Andhra Pradesh policeman supposedly defusing a third bomb that was claimed to be found near the Hyderabad Mecca Masjid immediately after the blasts.

An inquiry by the department now reveals it wasn't a bomb at all. It was, in fact, a tiffin-box full of rice.

No wonder then that even the police commissioner seemed clueless when asked about the third bomb.

“Defusing a third bomb? There was no third bomb whatsoever. Lot of rumours were doing rounds. Please do not believe them,” Hyderabad Police Commissioner Balwinder Singh told CNN-IBN.

The four police officials involved in the drama are likely to face action as the Andhra Police Commissioner has issued charge memos to them for mishandling the post-blast developments.

The charges include keeping the superiors in the dark about the police firing, seizure of live bombs, particulars of material seized from the blast site and concealing information on the dead and injured.

The bomb squad had claimed that they defused two live bombs outside the masjid after the blast took place. The bombs, they said, were in a laptop bag hung on a railing at the mosque.

But the internal inquiry reveals senior police officials were not even informed about these bombs, even hours after they were defused. Police inspectors also did not inform their superiors when they opened fire on people protesting against the blast.

Police sources say a few more officials could face disciplinary action as the incident has brought out the police force's own shortcomings in dealing with a crisis situation.