The Hindu : Front Page : Bomb hoax calls rattle Hyderabad

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Tuesday, Aug 28, 2007
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Bomb hoax calls rattle Hyderabad

Special Correspondent

Functioning of the Secretariat is disrupted for nearly two hours

— Photo: P. V. Sivakumar

A matter of concern: Bharatiya Janata Party workers led by the party’s State president Bandaru Dattatreya protesting on Monday against rising extremism, outside Gokul Chat, one of the targets of Saturday’s bomb blasts in Hyderabad.

HYDERABAD: A series of bomb hoax calls amid a partial bandh sponsored by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rattled citizens in the State capital on Monday, 48 hours after the twin explosions that claimed over 40 lives here.

A bomb scare disrupted the functioning of the Secretariat on the road across Lumbini Park, one of the bomb blast sites, for nearly two hours.

Hundreds of employees were forced to go out of their offices as sniffer dogs and bomb disposal squads scoured the entire complex before declaring it safe after noon.

Five other bomb threats — at Paradise, Global Hospital, the Gruhakalpa building complex, the Rathifile bus stand and the Imliban bus station complex — also created panic among the people for a brief while.

With images of Saturday’s bombing still fresh in their minds, shop owners downed shutters and educational institutions declared a holiday.

BJP charge

BJP State president Bandaru Dattatreya and national secretary N. Indrasena Reddy were taken into custody when they tried to force their way into the Secretariat alleging that two Ministers were hand in glove with disruptive elements.

Buses withdrawn

Although rail services functioned normally, the APSRTC withdrew bus services from the districts to Hyderabad following stray incidents of stone throwing on buses. Members of the Criminal Courts Bar Association abstained from court work after noon and took out a rally to the Assembly.

The police were wary of announcing any breakthrough in the investigation. They are, however, not ruling out the possibility of the blasts being the work of foreign terror operatives.

They rounded up two persons and let them off after interrogation.

A senior police official said the material collected from the blast sites at Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat at Kothi was being compared for possible leads about the identity of the operatives.

“Some clues have been gathered but let us not press panic buttons by discussing the identity of the terror organisations,” he said.

Admits to lapses

Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy on Monday admitted to lapses in the functioning of the State intelligence agencies in not heeding the Intelligence Bureau’s inputs about a possible terror strike by HuJI in the city.

He indicated that the government would take a slew of measures to coordinate work among the four intelligence wings and with other arms of the police, besides making intelligence gathering attractive by giving incentives and inducting “quality” officers.

The Telugu Desam Party abstained from an all-party condolence meeting and later submitted a memorandum to Governor N.D. Tiwari urging him to act against the Congress government.

Cataloguing a dozen “alarming incidents,” party president N. Chandrababu Naidu said acts of terrorism would continue if Dr. Reddy was allowed to remain in office.

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