Fear of 2008 redux jolted GK-I traders

Five years after it had been targeted by the Indian Mujahideen, fear returned to haunt south Delhi’s Greater Kailash-I on Monday evening.

Five years after it had been targeted by the Indian Mujahideen, fear returned to haunt south Delhi’s Greater Kailash-I on Monday evening.

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Around 5:30 pm, a suspicious motorcycle bearing the registration number of another state and parked below the RP Bhavan in the M-block sent shopkeepers and shoppers into a tizzy.

“There was something odd about the two-wheeler,” said Aarti Thakur, a local resident. “It was parked in an unusual way and gave the impression that it had been abandoned with a purpose.”

What added to their sense of foreboding, said the market’s trader’s welfare association president Rajinder Soni, was a black leather bag hanging mysteriously on one of its sides.

“We immediately called the police and told them that we feared it could be a bomb,” Soni said.

On September 13, 2008, a blast rocked the M-block market in GK-I. Investigation had revealed that the explosive had been kept in a container on a bike parked in the parking.

The police rushed to the spot and cordoned-off the area. They were joined by a team of the district police’s Bomb Disposal Squad even as efforts to trace the two-wheeler’s owner were initiated.

“Fortunately, we were able to trace and summon him to the spot. The first thing he was asked to do was to let us check the bag - which revealed that the entire thing was a misunderstanding,” an officer said.