M A I N   N E W S

UP minister hurt in blast, critical
Shahira Naim
Tribune News Service

Lucknow, July 12
Uttar Pradesh Minister Nand Gopal Gupta 'Nandi' was seriously injured in an explosion outside his residence in Mutthiganj, under Kotwali police station of Allahabad, this afternoon, the police said.

According to ADG (Law and Order) Brij Lal, four more persons were injured in the explosion. The condition of the Minister’s gunner constable Sanjay was serious.

A member of the Minister's personal staff, Pritam, a safai karamcahri, Shyam Babu, and a journalist working for a national daily who had gone to meet the Minister, too, sustained injuries. All the injured have been admitted to a local hospital, Jeevan Jyoti.

Speaking to mediapersons, the ADG said the bomb had in all likelihood been planted in a moped parked between the Minister’s residence and the temple where he was headed, some 50 to 60 metres away in a narrow lane.

Two motorcycles and a scooty parked near the moped have also been burnt in the explosion, said Brij Lal while refusing to hazard a guess regarding the kind of explosives used in the incident or if a remote device was employed.

“This is a serious matter. The Forensic Science Laboratory, Agra, team has reached the spot along with IG (Special Task Force). Only after they start the investigation can anything be authoritatively said,” commented the ADG.

Calling the incident a “challenge” which the state police would soon crack, a visibly shaken ADG clearly attempted to play down the incident when he described the condition of the Minister was okay and there was no move to shift him anywhere. Till late in the evening, the police neither had any leads on the incident nor had any arrests been made.

However, sources in Allahabad said the Minister was critical and may be airlifted to New Delhi for further treatment. Doctors attending on him have said on the condition of anonymity that splinters are being removed from his neck and he had suffered massive loss of blood.

Taking a serious view of the situation, Chief Minister Mayawati called an immediate meeting to take stock of the situation. She has also rushed DGP Karamvir Singh and Principal Home Secretary Kunwar Fateh Bahadur to Allahabad to personally supervise the investigations into the incident. Senior Ministers Naseemuddin Siddiqui and Swami Prasad Maurya had also been directed to proceed to Allahabad.

The youngest cabinet minister, 'Nandi' was looking after Institutional Finance, Stamp and Judicial Tax. He had stepped out of his house for his daily ritual to visit a neighborhood temple when the explosion took place.