Bengaluru blast: Cops use maps for virtual replay

BENGALURU: Desperate to find leads, investigators probing last week’s low-intensity blast on Church Street are using detailed maps of the area to recreate the chain of events that led to the planting of the pipe bomb.

Challenged by the lack of surveillance cameras on Church Street, coupled with poor clarity of those that are available, the special investigation team of the Bengaluru police have created a geographic information system-based map and another blueprint of sorts to figure out possible movements of the bomb planters on December 28.

Experts have concluded that the bomb was planted on the same day and not earlier.

“We want to know from which direction the suspects came, which roads they took and which shops they possibly passed by. We are using these maps to approximate their movements,” a officer involved in the investigation said. The maps also show various ways through nearby buildings and hitherto unknown routes that lead to the Coconut Grove restaurant on Church Street.

The timed improvised explosive device went off on a footpath outside the restaurant at 8.38pm killing one woman and injuring five others.

Investigators are preparing to check footage from cameras installed in buildings situated on all roads leading to Church Street in an attempt to establish whether the suspected terrorists walked, travelled in a car or on a bike. “We are analysing these details. It could also be a case of attackers choosing a spot that did not have cameras, because there is an old abandoned house and vacant land opposite the blast site,” the officer said. The humongous task of scrutinizing lakhs of mobile calls made in and around Church Street will take a long time, sources said.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Alok Kumar, who heads the special team, told ET that the identities of suspects, whose sketches have been developed, are yet to be ascertained.