BANGALORE: The Commissioner of Police, Ajai Kumar Singh, on Thursday said the involvement of naxalites cannot be ruled out in the explosions that occurred at the offices of the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) here on August 26.

Dr. Ajai Kumar Singh told presspersons that the police had some clues about the suspects. "At this stage of investigation, I cannot rule out the involvement of the naxalites in the explosions," he said.

To a query, the Police Commissioner said experts from the Forensic Sciences Laboratory have said that ammonia-based chemicals were used at the two places. They have said the explosives used by the naxalites during an attack on a police camp in Venkatammanahalli in Pavagada taluk of Tumkur district, in which seven people were killed, were different from the ones used in the latest cases. "The same people can use different explosives on different occasions," he remarked.

Asked whether the twin explosions had exposed laxity in security at the two buildings, Dr. Ajai Kumar Singh said the offices of political parties are public places and attract several people. "It is not possible to always provide foolproof security at such places. But adequate security is given to the offices of political parties whenever VVIPs go there," he remarked.

He said the police have also advised political parties to streamline security at their offices, particularly during VVIP visits.

On August 26, around 7 p.m. some Janata Dal (Secular) leaders who were holding a meeting in the party office on Race Course Road, heard a deafening sound from the south-east side of the building.

Assuming that an electric transformer could have exploded, the leaders rushed there only to find a disused toilet engulfed in thick smoke. The explosion had caused dents in the wall and left windowpanes shattered.

Around the same time, a crude timer-attached device exploded in the Congress office on Queen's Road. The blast, which did not cause any damage, came to light only the next morning.

Some Congress office-bearers rushed out of the office around 6.30 p.m. on August 26 on hearing a loud blast. Finding nothing suspicious outside, they surmised that a transformer burst could have caused the sound. Only after reading newspaper reports the next day on the explosion at the Janata Dal (Secular) office, they related the sound to the blast.

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