A firecracker explosion in a basement at Saket city court in South Delhi on Thursday at 12: 30 PM triggered panic, following which police and fire officials were rushed to the spot.
Meanwhile, Delhi Fire Services too rushed six fire tenders to attend the call, senior officials said.
The explosion took place on the stairs of the basement where cars and scooters were parked. Though no one was injured in the incident. The Delhi Police and the security agencies have launched a probe to ascertain the identity of the people behind this mischief. The eight storey building houses the lawyer chambers and office of Saket Bar Association.
Security agencies are also taking it seriously as it might be an ‘indication’ by some terrorist group or organisation as the same type of low intensity bomb had exploded a few days before the High Court Blast in 2011 which had claimed 15 lives and injured 76 people.
According to a senior officer it was a low intensity blast and nobody was injured. “It appears that some mischievous elements tried to create panic in the court,” said the officer adding, nothing could be ruled out in such stage but investigations were on. The sleuths from anti-terror unit Special Cell and crime detection team also visited the spot and collected the samples from the spot.
“The exploded material appears akin to material used for fire cracker. The sample collected from the spot has been sent to forensic lab for the test,” the officer added.
The incident took place when most of the lawyers were present at their chambers.
“I was on the ground floor and talking with my colleague when I heard a loud sound. Everyone started running outside the building. A few minutes after, we spotted the blast in the basement parking,” Sunita Bhaskar, a lawyer told The Pioneer.
Immediately, a team of local police reached the spot even as bomb disposal squad and fire department was alerted. The Delhi Police cordoned off the upper end of parking stairs.
No CCTV was installed at the explosion spot. Sources said the culprit chose the spot and escaped all basement CCTV cameras. It points to the fact that he was well versed with the court surroundings and may have conducted a recce before execution.
There were hundreds of cars and scooters parked in the basement at the time of the explosion. No one was present around the spot. Sources said police have recovered a ‘sutli’ from the spot and it seems someone had used a matchbox to set it on fire before escaping.
Senior Delhi Police officers said the security in and around the court has been beefed up following the incident. Secretary (Saket Bar Association) Karnail Singh told The Pioneer, “We will take some more measures to enhance the security inside the premises.”
“The private security guards, who look after frisking and checking, have been asked to be on alert and the lawyers have also upheld their full cooperation in it,” he added.