Day after Hubballi railway station blast, more bombs found; parcel was addressed to Shiv Sena leader

Hubballi: A day after a person was left injured due to a minor blast in an express train at Hubballi Railway Station in north Karnataka, it was revealed on Tuesday that more bombs have been found at the premises.

A bomb disposal squad, scheduled to reach Hubballi from Bengaluru, is expected to defuse the bombs today.

Hubballi is around 410 km northwest of Karnataka’s capital Bengaluru.

As per a report, bombs have been shifted to an open space nearby.

The explosion had taken place when a person lifted one of the small plastic boxes he found in an unclaimed bucket on a platform.

A corrugated sheet was found pasted on the bucket on which Maharashtra Shiv Sena MLA Prakash Rao Abitkar's name was written along with a Kolhapur address. "No BJP, no NSUI, only Shiv Sena" slogan was also found to be written on the sheet.

"Due to the explosion, one person was injured and a glass (windowpane of a nearby room) was broken," a police officer said.

When asked about the Maharashtra MLA’s name on the bucket, the police officer said it was not appropriate to arrive at any conclusion. He added that it could well be an act of mischief.

"The blast occurred when an unclaimed bucket with eight plastic boxes exploded in the Amaravathi Express from Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh) to Hubballi," Railway sub-division Deputy Superintendent of Police BB Patil said.

"The injured person, Sadik, 25, was told to hand over the unclaimed bucket to the station master. The bucket exploded when he was holding it," the DSP added.

The blast triggered panic at Hubballi Railway Station, which is a major junction and the headquarters of the South Western Railway Zone.

As soon as the news spread, Railway Protection Force and officials rushed to the scene.

The injured were rushed to a hospital and the entire platform was cordoned off.

In a statement, the South Western Railways had said: "Incident informed to the Local police. Railway Police is on alert. State police including high officials are at the site. An investigation is on."

Meanwhile, Karnataka Minister for Medium and Large Scale Industries Jagadish Shettar, who represents Hubli-Dharwad Central Assembly constituency, said a probe would disclose who kept the explosive at the railway station.

An FIR has been filed under Sections 307 (attempt to murder), 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons) of the IPC, Sections 4 and 5 of Explosive Substance Act, and Section 9(B) of the Explosive Act.