Terror Thursday for Pune

Pune: In yet another incident, Pune city saw a low intensity bomb blast on Tuesday afternoon at around 2.05 pm after an explosives tagged on a motor cycle went off, which was parked in front of exclusive parking area for police establishment, where Vishrambaug, Faraskhana police stations and offices of Deputy Commissioner of Police and Additional Commissioner of Police are housed. Five people including two students and one police constable received minor injuries in the blast. Interestingly, the blast took place exactly few meters from Dagadusheth Ganpati Temple, which has been on the hit list of terror outfits and round the clock security has been given by the city police's Quick Response Team (QRT).

The injured have been identified as Deepak Singh, who is the worker at vada paav centre, which is few meters away from the spot, police constable Gulab Khedkar, Mayur Solunke, Sushant Solunke, Akash Shinde.. Manisha Jadhav, who owns the vada paav centre fell down when the blast took place, luckily she escaped the injuries.As per the eye witness, police constable Khedkar said that when he entered the open space in front of the police stations on his bike and was about to park his bike, the explosion took place, which damaged the nearby motorcycles."As soon as the blast took place, some object flung towards me and hit my chest," he said.
 

Manisha Jadhav said that at around 2.05 pm when she was at the counter of her snack centre and there were some customers eating the vada paav. Her Deepak Singh was frying vada paav nearby, a big explosion took place near the bikes parked and something hit Singh's head which left him injured. "I too collapsed and got my thigh hurt," she said.

Commissioner of Police Satish Mathur told media persons that it was a proper blast which was low in intensity and ball bearing, iron nails were used to execute the blast as these items were found at the spot.
He added that the team of forensic experts have collected the samples from the spot and after their detailed analysis, the exact composition and chemicals used in the bomb. He said that the bike (MH 11 AQ 7174) which was used was stolen bike.As per the police sources, the bike belongs to a police constable named Dada Rajage, who is from Satara and the bike was stolen from a court in Satara on June 27.
Speaking about the blasts and which organization could be instrumental behind the same, he said that as of now they have no information about who is behind the blast. "Anti Terrorist Squad, Crime branch of the city police are investigating the case from all the angles," said Mathur.After the blasts, senior police officers and teams from the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS), State Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), State Intelligence Department (SID), Intelligence Bureau (IB), the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Fire Brigade as well as the local army unit reached to the spot.The area was the cordoned off and all the shopkeepers were asked to shutter down the shops.

Unmanned Parking lot

Till last month, the parking area which is exclusively for police personnel in front of the police stations, a dedicated police constable was deployed in order to shoo away bikers other than cops. Even journalists who used to go for some press briefings were not allowed to park the bikes. However, now constable has been removed and for last one month anybody could park their bike. Officials from the Intelligence Bureau (IB) said if the constable was deployed, the incident could have been averted.

How the blast took place

There is a possibility of usage of a timer device and there was a power source in the form of a 9 Volt Battery. The timer device was attached to a detonator wherein high explosives possibly ammonium nitrate was used. The spherical balls and nails were wrapped around the device with a plastic bag but no solid container was found based on the evidence we had gathered.

Pune: Dagdusheth Halwai Ganapati Temple in Pune has been on the radar of terror outfits for past many years. The temple is dedicated to the Hindu God Ganesh and its idol is worshiped by devotees from across Maharashtra. The temple is quite popular in the state and is visited by thousands of devotees ranging from common man to cinestars, celebrities and ministers.

Dagdusheth again; why?

A thick security blanket has been placed around the temple since Feb 2010 after the Delhi Police revealed that alleged Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative Mohammad Qateel Siddiqui had informed that the IM had planned to carry out simultaneous bomb blasts at the Shrimant Dagdusheth Halwai Ganapati temple and the German Bakery on February 13, last year. The Pune police had also given instructions to trustees of the Dagdusheth Halwai Ganapati Trust to stop providing a special entry route to very important persons (VIPs) and very very important persons (VVIPs) visiting the temple for prayers. The temple administration has installed its own CCTV surveillance in and around the temple since 2010.