BANGALORE: The police suspect that the terrorists [could have been more than one] who attacked the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) on December 28, 2005, could have panicked and beat a hasty retreat when a grenade hurled on the campus did not explode as expected.

Reconstructing the probable sequence of events, a senior police official told The Hindu that the attackers could have first hurled the grenade at the entrance of the J.N. Tata Auditorium on the IISc campus when the delegates to an international conference were coming out.

Random firing

When the grenade did not explode, the assailants could have panicked and started firing randomly. The intention probably could have been to create commotion at the entrance, barge into the auditorium and shoot people, most of whom were eminent scientists, the official said. They did not go ahead, probably fearing that the grenade might explode, the official said. As the Sadashivanagar police station was situated close to the IISc, they probably fled the place, he said.

No confirmation

Even though there was no confirmation on the number of the attackers and the vehicle used by them, the official said two persons could have come on a motorcycle. "While one entered the IISc premises and carried out the attack, the other could have been waiting on a motorcycle outside the campus," he said.

He suspected that they could have thrown away the weapons and the bag, jumped over the compound wall of the IISc campus and escaped. "We suspect that the attackers could have made good their escape after jumping over the compound wall near the Circle Maramma Temple," he said.

The official said they could have used a motorcycle. He also said there were no eyewitnesses to the reports that the attackers had come in a white car.

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