Police suspect link between Kolhapur & Hubballi blasts

HUBBALLI: Karnataka’s Government Railway Police and Maharashtra Police are checking if there’s a connection between the blast on the outskirts of Kolhapur last week and the one at Hubballi railway station on Monday.
The mild intensity blast at Hubballi Junction’s Platform No. 1 sent shock waves across the city.
An unclaimed bucket containing 16 suspicious, round explosives was found by cleaning staff on the Vijaywada-Hubballi Express and a tea vendor was injured when he handled one of them.
Police are now checking if there’s a connection between the blast three days ago at Sahu Toll Plaza on the outskirts of Kolhapur in which a truck driver died on the spot and the blast in Hubballi.
Kolhapur police visit spot
Sources said Kolhapur Assistant SP Tirupati Kakde and his staff visited the blast site in Hubballi on Tuesday. Kolhapur police arrested three persons in last week’s blast case and the initial investigation found material which caused the blast is also used in hunting.
Hubballi police suspected the material seized at the railway station is similar. Sources said people in Radhanagiri area in Kolhapur often face problem of wild boars and the explosive material was being taken there.
Sources said Maharashtra and Karnataka Anti-Terrorism Squads also visited the blast site in Hubballi.
Teams of the internal security department, National Security Agency, Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad, state and central intelligence wing descended on the railway station. Local police said the material is used in hunting wild animals but security agencies are probing the case from all angles.
The suspicious material was buried at an isolated place in a 5-foot deep pit and sandbags have been kept on it. The BDDS staff are yet to start their work, sources said.
Meanwhile, GRP SP MB Boralingaiah said they have formed four teams to investigate the blast and a case was registered under Explosives Act 1884, Explosive Substances Act 1908, IPC Sections 326 and 307.
He added, “We have to find out who kept the bucket, at which station and the motive. An elected representative’s name was also written on the bucket and we have to solve that puzzle also.”
A BDDS team from Bengaluru will safely dispose of the material and a forensic science team will confirm the nature of the explosive material, he said. Deputy Chief Security Commissioner, SWR Hubballi, Arunkumar Chourasia visited the spot and gathered information from officials. He said no one was arrested and declined to comment on the nature of the suspicious material till the investigation if over.