At least four persons, including a woman were injured in a blast near a shop in the busy Badambadi bus terminus in Cuttack, police sources said on Tuesday.
While eye witnesses claim it was a bomb blast, police are of the opinion that a powerful cracker went off near a mobile phone shop around 9 pm on Monday night.
The injured were immediately rushed to SCB Medical College Hospital where the doctors said one person was discharged after initial treatment while the remaining three are under treatment and stated to be out of danger. All the injured persons were customers of the mobile shop and a nearby pan shop.
The mobile shop owner however, escaped unhurt as he was outside his shop at the time of the blast. It is believed that the bombing of the shop was aimed at spreading terror among shop owners who refuse to pay extortion money to local mafias.
Some policemen however, suspect 'previous rivalry' as one of the motives behind Monday night's incident. The mobile shop owner who was earlier involved in a check bounce case had an enmity with another distributor of the locality, police claim.