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Blast near Godhra leaves 1 dead, 11 hurt

Godhra, July 17
A person was killed and 11 others were injured when a bomb planted in a motor cycle outside a school exploded in a town, 17 km from here, today, hours after a similar blast 15 km away damaged a house.

The police said the powerful blast outside the school in the Sutharvada locality at Delol town in Kaalol tehsil at 6 pm killed a youth and injured 11, three of them seriously.

The injured have been rushed to the SSG Hospital at Vadodara.

The dead has been identified as Ravjibhai Vasava (25).

The earlier explosion was triggered off near a police outpost close to a school at Mehlol village. The crude bomb was planted in a two-wheeler.

Meanwhile, a report from Ahmedabad said two persons, allegedly involved in Gulbarg Society massacre during the recent communal riots in the city, that claimed 39 lives, were nabbed by the police here on Tuesday, a senior police official said on Wednesday.

Assistant Commissioner of Police S.S. Chudasama said Chirag Shah and Prakash Padiyar, were later produced before a local court which remanded them in police custody till July 19.

The crime branch had on Sunday arrested Ashok, alias Aslo Dharsinh Thakore, the prime accused in the mob attack on Gulbarg Society in Meghaninagar here on February 28, in which a former Congress MP Ehsan Jaffri was among those killed.

He was also remanded in police custody till July 19.

A report from New Delhi said the Centre has once again refused the National Human Rights Commission’s recommendation to refer the critical cases in Gujarat to the CBI for probe since the state government has not made any such request, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday.

In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Home Mr Vidyasagar Rao said the NHRC’s request to the Central Government to ensure that five critical cases be handed over to the CBI for investigation could not be granted as “the Government of Gujarat has not made any such request”. UNI, PTI