Explosion at Channapatna town before Bangalore blasts

The probe into Friday’s serial blasts in Bangalore has taken a curious turn with the police confirming an explosion had taken place at Channapatna, about 60 kms from the City, a day earlier on Thursday.

The blast took place on a pavement in front of a handicraft emporium in Channapatna on Thursday, but the local police had dismissed the matter of little consequence as no damage had been caused from the explosion. However, as a matter of routine, the local police had visited the spot and recovered a trunk containing about 8 kgs of explosive material.

The Channapatna police had neither bothered to inform the senior officials nor conduct an investigation into the blast.

After receiving information about the blast at Channapatna a day after Bangalore blasts, Director General of Karnataka Police R Srikumar visited the site to take stock of the situation.

Along with bomb experts, Srikumar inspected the trunk recovered from the blast site at Channapatna kept at the local police station and said the explosive material included nuts and bolts besides ammonium nitrate and detonators, which had also been used in Bangalore blasts.

“In both the cases, ammonium nitrate based explosives had been used. Even the detonators used in both the incidents are similiar and it appears that both the explosives have some similiarities”, he said.

A team of forensic experts from National Security Guard (NSG) visited Channapatna on Monday to collect the remnants from the blast site.

Srikumar also said that the bomb in Channapatna did not go off fully. “If the entire box had exploded, it would have been dangerous”, he said. The local police assumed the blasts to have been triggered by gelatin sticks normally used in quarry activities in the surrounding areas, he said.

Police inquiries have revealed that the trunk was unloaded by a group of unidentified people in a four-wheeler, who later proceeded towards Bangalore.
The police do not rule out the possibility of the Channapatna blast as a dry run ahead of the serial blasts in Bangalore the next day. “We are investigating all angles as explosive material prima facie appears to be similiar to the one used in Bangalore blasts”, Inspector General of Police Kamal Pant said.