Three 12-year-old boys, who picked up a detonator wire from a garbage pile near their school and plugged it into an electric socket in the classroom, suffered minor injuries due to the resulting short circuit and a minor fire.
The incident occurred in Sri Sadguru Sai Baba High School, Roopena Agrahara, on Friday afternoon. The incident triggered panic as it came less than a week after the Church Street blast that killed a 38-year-old woman. The incident was initially taken to be a bomb blast. A bomb disposal and dog squads were pressed into action.
The three students — Surya, Shivanathan and Kiran — are being treated at St John’s National Academy of Health Sciences Hospital. Police sources said that their injuries were not life-threatening and they would be discharged soon.
The blast occurred around 1.30 p.m., a few minutes after the lunch break. A teacher Saraswathi, in her statement to the police, said that they saw Surya come running out in bloodied clothes shouting that there was a blast. “He later told that he had put a wire into an electric socket and put on the switch, which led to a blast,” she has stated.
The trio apparently found the wire, now confirmed to be a detonator wire used in low-intensity explosives, in a garbage heap in front of the school.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Alok Kumar said that they found illegal blasting going on in the vicinity for a construction project and suspect that the detonator came from there. While it was mandatory to seek permission, he said police had not given permission for any blasting in Madiwala limits and hence, the work was illegal.
They have registered a case against the builder under Explosive Substances Act and are investigating.
