TERROR VICTIM: Karnataka Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh visits Pankaj Gupta, one of the scientists injured in the Bangalore terrorist attack, at the M.S. Ramaiah Hospital on Thursday.— Photo: By Special Arrangement

BANGALORE : A heart-wrenching scene was witnessed at the M.S. Ramaiah Hospital on Thursday morning, when Saurab Puri, son of M.C. Puri, the Delhi IIT professor killed in the terrorist attack, and other relatives came to take away the body.Saurab Puri and other family members reached the hospital by 11.15 a.m. The son broke down on seeing his father's body. The relatives huddled in the lobby outside the mortuary declined to talk to the media: "we have nothing to say and we don't want to speak to you''. IISc director P. Balaram was seen consoling the family. Several IISc staffers had volunteered their services to help out at the hospital.

After the autopsy the body was embalmed, kept in a refrigerated coffin and later taken in an ambulance to the airport, from where it was flown to Delhi.

Pankaj Gupta, a scientist who was injured in the shoot-out, is recovering from his wounds in the same hospital, doctors said. Another injured person Patelappa, a lab assistant, is also recovering. Both are in the intensive care unit. Gupta, was wounded in his right arm and nose and Patelappa went through a 90-minute operation for an injury in the pelvis.

At Mallige Medical Centre, Vijay Chandru of IISc is recovering after a long operation to treat multiple wounds. Several colleagues gathered at the hospital on Wednesday night to donate blood. Sangeetha, another scientist wounded near her eye, is also recovering at the ICU there.

Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh who visited the injured persons in both hospitals said: "This is an unfortunate incident, the attack looks like the work of terrorists but we cannot come to any conclusion right now. We are concerned about the security threat in Bangalore and are taking the action needed.''

Former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda and Bangalore South MP H.N. Ananth Kumar also visited the hospital. Mr. Deve Gowda said: "It is a great tragedy that an incident like this happened in a prestigious institution like IISc. The police should gear up its intelligence network but this is not the time to blame them... nobody anticipated it.'' Mr. Ananth Kumar said: "Soft-pedalling by the Union and State governments in regard to terrorism has led to this... security laxity has emboldened the terrorists. The Government should frame a security protocol for academic and research institutions in Bangalore."

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