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Tragedy strikes workers’ families

Photo: T. Singaravelou

Heart-rending scene: Relatives of the victim of the crude bomb blast wailing near the Puducherry railway station on Saturday. —

PUDUCHERRY: Tragedy struck the families of painters, sanitary workers, loadmen, rickshaw pullers and construction labourers residing in huts along the railway track in Vanarapet close to the Puducherry railway station on Saturday as a crude device blast claimed the life of a school boy and injured three other children.

Just as the blast shattered peace in the area inhabited by daily wage-earners and their kin, the residents looked clearly perplexed as they were not aware of the gravity of the situation, according to an eyewitness .

As they came to know the impact of the blast, residents including wailing relatives of the victims swarmed the site where the body of V. Ajitkumar and the injured boys were lying in a pool of blood. There were heart-rending scenes with relatives of the victims wailing and their neighbours becoming speechless.

The injured school students - T.Senthamizhselvan, L.Susainathan and C.Karthik Raja - were rushed to the Government General Hospital.

Close on the heels of the arrival of Deputy Inspector General of Police S.Vasudeva Rao and Senior Superintendent of Police Chhaya Sharma, personnel of the Reserve Battalion reached the site around 2 p.m. The Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) and the Detective Dog Squad (DDS) also commenced their work at the blast site.

Poignant scenes were witnessed at the GH where the injured boys were admitted and post-mortem was done on the body of Ajitkumar.

As Saturday was a holiday for schools, the boys were playing in a tree shade on the railway track. Though their parents and relatives asked them to return home for lunch, the boys were reluctant to do so.

Scaling the compound wall of the Food Corporation of India godown complex adjacent to their residences, the boys collected coconuts which had fallen from the trees in the land at Fransua Thope. According to police, Ajitkumar had emerged from the FCI complex with a polythene bag, which was found lying there. As the boys saw a ball-shaped paper packet, wrapped with thread in the bag, Ajitkumar tried to open it. The packet, a crude device, exploded in his hand killing him on the spot and injuring three of his friends.

The Odiansalai police have registered a case under Sections 304 (A), 337 and 338 IPC and Section 3 of Explosive Substances Act, 1908. Combing operation had begun along the railway track, FCI complex and the adjoining areas in Vanarapet with the assistance of Revenue officials. The BDDS and the DDS had been pressed into service for anti-sabotage check, police said.

Some of the local residents complained that they had been facing threats from outsiders who visited the area frequently. There were five fire accidents in the locality during the last 10 years, they alleged. They also accused the police of not giving them any protection.

In another incident, country bombs were lobbed at the residence of an activist of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam R.Ganesh by a group of three persons following a family dispute between his sister Lawrence Mary and her husband Issac around 3.30 a.m. Window shutters were smashed in the impact of the blast.

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