Hyderabad: Three brothers — two real estate developers and a policeman — were killed in a bomb blast in Kurnool city in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday. Another person was also seriously injured in the incident, the police said.
The incident in an open field on Kurnool-Joharpur road occurred when the three members of the prominent Jampala family were supervising the survey of a piece of land, which they had recently purchased for Rs200 million (Dh10.72 million), on the city outskirts.
While Rajasekhar and Mallikarjun were conducting the survey, their younger brother Assistant Sub Inspector Srinivasulu also reached the spot.
According to the preliminary probe and the eye witness accounts, the labourers after clearing the land set fire to a dump of garbage that triggered a powerful blast. While two brothers died on the spot, Srinivasulu and survey department driver Sudhakar were seriously injured. They were rushed to the government hospital Kurnool where Srinivasulu succumbed to blast wounds.
With the news of the blast spreading, thousands of people gathered in and around the hospital.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Yogandhar Babu said: “We are trying to find out whether the bomb was left behind by somebody in the past or it was deliberately planted there to target the victims.”
However, residents said the Jampala family had no enmity with anybody and were quite well-known as successful real estate businessmen. They had constructed several buildings in the city.
Local legislator S.V. Mohan Reddy and former parliamentarian Kotla Suryprakash Reddy were among those who visited the victims’ house and condoled the deaths.
Kurnool is part of the Rayalaseema region once notorious for the faction violence, killings and use of crude bombs by rival factions against each other. However, the level of violence drastically came down over the last 10-15 years in the region. Police officials say the intensity of the bomb suggests it was not a crude bomb.