A National Investigation Agency (NIA) team has been rushed to examine the explosion site on Church Street in Bengaluru.
“Preliminary enquiries have indicated that the device could be a low intensity pipe bomb. A similar improvised explosive device was used in the recent Chennai blast in May. An NIA team, led by a Deputy Superintendent of Police, which is permanently stationed in Bengaluru, has been sent to the blast site. A highly experienced explosive export is also accompanying the team to examine the scene of crime,” said an official in New Delhi.
The NIA would also probe into suspected fallout of the recent arrest of Mehdi Masoor Biswas in Bengaluru on charges of abetting terrorism on the Internet and running an ISIS propaganda Twitter account.
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The official said the blast had to be probed keeping in view that similar incidents had taken place in cities like Chennai, Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh and near a police station in Pune earlier this year. “In the Chennai case, the local police have gathered evidence indicating that the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) suspects who had escaped from Khandwa Jail (Madhya Pradesh) in October 2013 could be involved. Five of the six absconders are also suspected to be behind the Bijnore blast,” he said.