Bangalore:
Another bomb was found and defused at Bangalore's Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday, while the IPL match between Bangalore and Mumbai was still on. The bomb was located outside gate no 8, and was timed to go off at 8 pm - when the match would end.
On Saturday afternoon, there were two low-intensity explosions outside gate no 12 of the stadium, minutes before the match was to begin. Early reports said the blasts could have been caused by crude bombs.
"We were there and suddenly there was a sound. Some pieces flew off, some hit the others in the mouth, eyes, on the face. It was very sudden, we were telling people to stick to the queue and suddenly there was this sound," Police Constable Bhagwan said. (
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There were many people, with policemen supervising.
Four people were injured, including security personnel. Police carried out extensive searches outside the stadium causing huge jams. An outside wall of the stadium was damaged. It clearly illustrated one thing - the stadium wasnt protected well enough.
The Chinnaswamy Stadium has more than 20 entrances and the crude bomb was planted near gate number 12.
The IPL match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians was scheduled to begin at 4 pm and there were about 40,000 people in the stadium. The toss, which was to have taken place at 3:30 pm, around the time that the blasts occurred, was delayed. The players were sent back to the dressing room.
The Ministry of Home Affairs said it is too early to know the nature of the blast, but early information suggested it could have been a crude bomb.
"It was most likely a tacit message to show relevance of terror groups," said the Home Secretary.
The local police said it was not an accidental blast. The Police Commissioner said it was not a generator blast, and the explosive material had probably been placed between a poster and a wall.
Meanwhile, an alert was immediately sounded at Kolkata's Eden Gardens, where the other IPL match of the day was scheduled to be played. Spectators were asked to reach the venue early, and not bring any bags.
The blast did not cause panic among spectators in Bangalore, and they were soon in their seats for the match that began just an hour later. But the blasts have made the Bangalore police sit up and think.