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44 injured in ITO blast

Fortyfour people were injured, nine of them seriously, when a bomb exploded near the police headquarters in New Delhi's crowded ITO area on Friday afternoon.

The bomb, placed under a food cart outside the Andhra Vanitha Mandali office which houses a legal centre and a creche, went off at 1408 hours.

The injured were taken to the Lok Nayak Jayaprakash and Ram Manohar Lohia hospitals. Of the 41 admitted at LNJP, the condition of nine was reported to be serious. Three of them were identified as Baljeet Kaur, Gurcharan Singh and Surjeet Tarki.

The blast smashed the window panes of the Mandali building. At least six children were present in the creche within. However, the children were reported to be safe.

The police headquarters is located hardly 200 metres away, on the opposite side. The area, which was cordoned off immediately, also houses several newspapers and corporate and government offices.

Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma cut short his stay at a function in Jaunti village in northwest Delhi to rush to the hospitals.

Verma described the incident as 'very unfortunate' and announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 20,000 for the disabled, Rs 10,000 for those with serious injuries and Rs 5,000 for those who have minor injuries.

He called for Police Commissioner T R Kakkar's resignation, saying that despite 23 blasts taking place in the capital last year, the police had been unable to find a clue, let alone arrest anyone. (Kakkar, however, claims differently.)

Verma said he would meet Home Minister Indrajit Gupta to seek Kakkar's removal. The entire police force, he continued, was being 'tarnished' because of one man's inefficiency.

A series of bomb blasts have rocked Delhi since October. The last one killed four people and injured 30 others in a packed Blueline bus in the Punjabi Bagh area on December 30.

Senior police officers said the blast was similar to the previous ones as regards the device used. The police have blamed Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence directorate for the blasts.

Of the recent explosions, today's was the first during daytime. The previous ones have all taken place between 1800 to 2000 hours, mainly in private buses.

UNI

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