New Delhi, April 11
The high-level security cordon in the Capital was breached once again when a high-intensity improvised explosive device (IED) was recovered from the North Block parking lot, barely a stone’s throw away from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) at the Raisina Hills here late last evening.
A major disaster was averted, due to the timely detection and diffusion of the explosive by the bomb disposal squads of the Army and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security.
The 4-kg explosive, with a battery operated timer device, concealed in a tiffin box was found lying on the scooter of Mr D.S.M. Sundaram, Personal Assistant to the Minister of State for Finance, Mr Balasaheb Vikhe Patil, parked outside the Finance Ministry Office in the high security North Block.
“The bomb would have exploded had the battery of the timer device been strong enough.... had the bomb exploded there would have been immense damage”, the Joint Commissioner of Police New Delhi Range, Mr Suresh Roy said.
The recovery of the explosive from the high-security area clearly reflected the lapse in security arrangement, especially after the recent Red Fort shoot-out incident and the threat of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) outfit to attack the PMO and other vital installations in the country.
Soon after the Red Fort incident in December last year the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) was deployed to provide security in all the Central Government offices located in the capital including the North Block and the South Block.
It is also surprising that the explosive was recovered barely a few metres away from the Union Home Ministry office, where armed guards provide round-the-clock vigil.
Meanwhile, Mr Roy said there were no immediate clues about the involvement of any major militant outfit and the Delhi Police Special Cell was probing into it.
Several journalists had to bear the brunt of the new security deployment imposed after the incident, as only scribes having Press Information Bureau accreditation were allowed to visit the area.
Following the diffusion of the IED, two electric detonators, one ABCD timer, one nine-volt battery and approximately 4 kgs of white explosive substance packed in the tiffin box were recovered by investigators.
Eversince the Red Fort shootout on December 22 last, intelligence inputs have regularly warned of attacks from Pak-backed militant outfits.
