Another mystery blast in S Delhi

An ear-splitting explosion ripped through Wok Inn, a Chinese takeaway joint, shattered car windowpanes and tore away windows of several houses located at some distance from the eatery, reports Ravi Bajpai.

Another one in the series of mysterious low-intensity blasts that have rocked South Delhi for the last few years injured two people in Chittaranjan Park early on Monday.

HT Image

An ear-splitting explosion ripped through Wok Inn, a Chinese takeaway joint, shattered car windowpanes and tore away windows of several houses located at some distance from the eatery. CR Park resident Sudarshana Maitra, and Som Pal, a security guard, were injured. The intensity was such that it shook more than 40 homes in Kalkaji’s South Park Apartments. A 50-metre wide road separates the houses and explosion site.

“The cover of my air conditioner came off. The windows facing the road were smashed and the floor littered with shards,” said Anshuman Mohanty, a resident. There have been eight such blasts in the past few years. Not a single case has been solved.

The incident took place in Chittaranjan Park’s Pocket K-1 at about 2.30 am when the residents were asleep, thus preventing major casualties. In two separate cases, three live bombs were recovered and diffused in time. Highly placed Intelligence and police officials told HT the bombs in three recent blasts in January this year might have contained highly volatile explosives, including TNT, which is used by terrorists.

But Delhi Police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said a leakage in the eatery’s LPG pipeline caused the explosion. That is just a possibility, though.

Residents who rushed out of their houses after the explosion said they could not smell LPG in the air around the blast site. “It’s impossible to miss such a strong smell, had gas leaked in such quantity,” said S Chakravorty, a resident.