The Uttarakhand police are still trying to nab Amit Malik alias Bhura who escaped from police custody while being taken to the court for a hearing in Baghpat on December 15. However, as in the past, the latest crime tends to eclipse the earlier ones. This is what has happened to the investigation into the Roorkee (Haridwar) bomb blast that had killed a 12-year old boy, Tushar Dhiman, on December 6. The police are still groping in the dark to have things fixed despite over 19 days having passed since the blast occurred in Roorkee.
After Chief Minister Harish Rawat took the escape of Bhura seriously, the State police had formed about 25 teams, including Special Operation Group, Special Task Force and Cyber Cell, and they are working on special information as well as direction being given by senior officers to apprehend the accused and recover the weapons looted from the police. Teams also sought cooperation from Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. Despite police forces remaining focused on the task, the gangster has remained elusive with eleven days having passed.
Moreover, alive to the gravity of things, the State Government has raised the amount of the reward from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh for information leading to Bhura's arrest on Wednesday. However, success is elusive.
As regards the bomb blast, Haridwar SSP Sweety Aggarwal said that teams from the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Special Task Forces from Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand had visited the blast site and collected evidences. NIA teams have not submitted the investigation report to Uttarakhand police so far.
Haridwar police are working hard to crack the case. After this incident, several persons were questioned by the teams. Reports received from various sources in regard revealed that there was no local connection, which means local persons were not involved in the blast. Verification drive of the residents has been launched at various places in the district and around 15,000 persons have been verified by the police. Verification drives would continue in the district in the coming days, she added.
Tushar Dhiman had died after a bomb exploded under Gangnahar police station area in Roorkee, around 50 metres away from DAV (PG) College, Roorkee. Significantly, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) was holding a meeting to mark the anniversary of Babri mosque demolition near the place where the incident occurred. The bomb exploded near a petrol pump, Nehru Nagar, when, on his way back home from school in the company of his two friends, the boy was played with it, taking it for a ball.