Hubballi blast: Maha police, ATS, IB join probe

A day after the low-intensity blast at the railway station here, Maharashtra police, Intelligence Bureau, Anti Terrorism Squad personnel from Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, and Railway Protection Force (RPF) joined the investigation initiated by the Government Railway Police (GRP), and shared information.

Meanwhile, four teams of the GRP have been formed to investigate the incident from different angles, under the leadership of GRP DySP B B Patil. Samples from the explosion site have been sent to the forensic science lab, to find out what material the explosive contained. A tea vendor was injured when he tried to crush a suspicious material found inside a bucket abandoned in a train, as it exploded, on Monday. Remaining explosives secured from the bucket are kept at the station premises, covering them with sand bags. Security has been beefed up.

“We are conducting the investigation from all angles, to find out from which railway station the explosives entered Vijayawada-Hubballi Amaravathi Express train, who brought them, and what was the intention. We are doing that with the assistance of investigating agencies of other states also,” said GRP SP M B Boralingaiah.

Kolhapur link?

Kolhapur Additional SP Tirupati Kakade also visited the spot, and discussed with the GRP officials, as a similar kind of explosive went off in Kolhapur district a few days back, killing one person. The suspect in that case had admitted that they were using such explosives to kill wild animals, sources said.

Meanwhile, finding out the intention behind the name and address of a Maharashtra MLA and ‘No BJP, No RSS’ being written on the bucket containing the explosives has become a tricky issue for the police.

Police sources also informed that CCTV footages at all railway stations on Vijayawada-Hubballi route are being checked.