It had started as an ordinary morning for 28-year-old Vijat R. A cup of tea from the stall outside his office in north Bangalore’s Malleshwar area, and he would be ready for work.
That was when he saw a man come from the direction of Kadu Malleshwara temple on a two-wheeler, park it in front of a police bus, and leave.
A couple of minutes later came a deafening explosion.
As the only person who noticed the man parking the bike that caused Wednesday’s blast outside the BJP office, Vijay is now assisting the police with the investigation.
“That man was just one of the several people who parked their vehicles at the spot,” Vijay said.
It was mere providence that Vijay’s car was not among the ones that bore the brunt of the blast. “Though I had initially parked my car there, I shifted it as my friends wanted to have breakfast afterwards,” Vijay added.
Parthasarathy, who lives in a nearby building, was not so lucky. He was on the ground floor when the blast occurred. “All the window panes and the crockery in the house got smashed. A shard of flying glass hit my wife Indira, who was in the kitchen,” Parthasarathy said.
{{/usCountry}}Parthasarathy, who lives in a nearby building, was not so lucky. He was on the ground floor when the blast occurred. “All the window panes and the crockery in the house got smashed. A shard of flying glass hit my wife Indira, who was in the kitchen,” Parthasarathy said.
{{/usCountry}}Rushing out, he saw people running helter-skelter on the streets. “A car parked next to the bike had caught fire. Its petrol tank exploded with another ear-splitting blast and rest of the vehicles went up in flames.”
The first explosion, though, made an indelible impression on Lakshman Rao, a constable of Reserve Police, who was standing nearby.
“The bike’s mangled remains flew almost 500 m through the air before raining down,” he said.