Four low-intensity blasts in Pune; one bomb defused

NEW DELHI/PUNE: On a day when Sushil Kumar Shinde took over as the new home minister, he was greeted in his home state by four low-intensity bomb blasts. Although not resembling the German Bakery explosion in intensity or horror, Pune was shaken by the serial low-blasts in the busy arterial JM Road.

A man allegedly carrying one of the bombs was injured in the explosions and was taken into custody. He was admitted to a local hospital. Pune police commissioner Gopal Rao Pol said the explosives carried by the injured man was kept in a cake box with sticky material, two detonators and a pencil cell. One detonator went off in the explosion, while the second was defused by a bomb disposal squad team.

Pol, however, said the explosions did not look like a terrorist attack. "All the bomb blasts have happened in one locality and it does not seem to be a terrorist attack. It seems to have been the work of a mischief-maker," Pol told a news agency by telephone.

This stand was soon contradicted by Union home secretary RK Singh, who said in New Delhi that it was too early to rule out a terrorist angle. The Centre rushed to Pune a team each of the National Investigation Agency from Delhi and Mumbai to probe the blasts.

Shinde was set to visit the city on Wednesday but he cancelled his trip. "I was planning to go to Pune at 6 pm today to attend a function of Lokmanya Tilak Prize at Tilak theatre there. I have no information of this being a terror attack," Shinde said in New Delhi.

The explosions, which occurred between 7.30 pm and 8.15 pm, were at spots near Balgandharva Theatre, Dena Bank branch, a McDonald food outlet and Garware Bridge. The first explosion went off at Balgandharva Theatre, where the suspected bomber was injured.

The explosion outside McDonald went off in a dustbin while the blasts near Garware Bridge and Dena Bank were reported from a cycle which had a bucket with explosives strapped on, police said.