Pune blasts suspect a local tailor, say police

New Delhi: The man who was suspected to have carried one of the four bombs that exploded in Pune on Wednesday night and was injured has been identified as a local tailor, the city's Police Commissioner Gulab Rao Pol said.

His name is Patil who is a local resident and working as a tailor in Junglee Maharaj Road, he said.

Pol said that "from the low-intensity blasts, we think there is no involvement of terrorist group. There may be other groups which are not related with terrorist activities", he said.

Asked about the possible motive behind the blasts, he said "the intention was to make mischief and create panic in the mind of the public".

Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil was among the first few to visit the blast sites. Top police investigators including the ATS and National Investigation Agency have been called in.

Sources say the material used in the bombs suggests it was a well planned attack. Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan also indicated that a timer may have been used.

Between 7:27 pm and 8:15 pm on Wednesday evening, four low-intensity bomb blasts in quick succession shook Pune injuring at least one person. While the first three blasts took place within a radius of one km at the Jungli Maharaj Road, the fourth blast was reported from the Garware Chowk. There was also a fifth bomb which was, however, defused near a McDonalds outlet in the city.

Union Home Secretary RK Singh said, “One person has suffered minor injuries and he has been admitted into a hospital. Police are questioning him.”

The blasts incidentally came on the night the new incumbent Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde took over and was to attend a function in Pune.

“I had to attend the Lokmanya Tilak awards ceremony. I had to go by 6 pm. But it happened near Tilak theatre,” Shinde said.

The venue for the function the Home Minister was to attend is close to the spot of the first explosion -the Bal Gandharva Theatre, where the suspected bomber was injured. The blast outside the Mc Donald eatery went off in a dustbin. Just down the road the bombs at the Dena Bank and Garware Bridge were placed on cycles with a bucket of explosives strapped on.

A team of the national investigation agency and the NSG is assisting the Pune police in its investigation.

Though the forensic analysis report to ascertain the nature of the explosive is yet to come out, investigators claim that the aim was to trigger panic and not to claim many lives. Both the rights groups and the India Mujahideen are under the scanner of the two-pronged investigation.

Delhi is put on heightened vigil with deployment of armed police personnel across the city in the wake of the bomb blasts in Pune.

Roads were barricaded and vehicles checked while security was strengthened at vital installations like Parliament and other key buildings.

Police also strengthened security at Jantar Mantar where Anna Hazare and his team are on an indefinite fast following the explosions in Pune. A bomb disposal squad conducted searches at the protest venue, a senior police official said.

(With additional inputs from PTI)