Thaindian News

New Delhi, May 30 (IANS) Five days after a low intensity bomb went off near the Delhi High Court complex, a bag containing wires and batteries was found outside a Delhi University college Monday leading to a scare in the area, police said.

Police said the bag also contained powder used to make firecrackers but added that the contents could not have exploded. Senior officials said it seemed to be a prank.

The discovery of the bag at a bus stop outside Gargi College, an all-women’s college in south Delhi, just five minutes before noon triggered panic in the area.

Meera Ramachandran, principal of the college, said: “One of our students, after appearing in the exams (B.Com), was at the bus stop. She saw a suspicious object in a polybag. She informed the PCR van posted opposite the campus and then informed us. The bomb squad team came and defused the bomb. There is nothing to be afraid of now.”

Yogita Sharma, a student who had left the campus after the exam and was on the spot at the time the ‘bomb’ was discovered, said: “We all were scared. Lots of policemen arrived and when they told us that the bomb was defused, there was a sigh of relief.”

Head Constable Rajendra Prasad, who was in the PCR van, told IANS: “A girl informed us. We informed the control room at 11.55 p.m. and within 15 minutes, the dog and bomb squads arrived on the spot. Meanwhile, we cordoned off the bus stop and asked people within 100 metres of the spot to vacate the area and remove their vehicles.”

Constable Rajesh, who was also at the site, said: “There was a bag lying besides the bus stop in which two pencil batteries, wire and gunpowder were tied up with jute strings. The bag was open.”

“The wires and batteries were not connected. There was no circuit that could have triggered an explosion,” said Rajesh.

According to an eyewitness, Krishan Kumar, there was a little smoke coming out of the bag.

“We saw it from some 10 metres away. Then the police picked up each and every material and said it has been defused,” said Kumar, who is a lab assistant at the college.

Police officials said there was nothing to fear.

“It was a kind of a prank. It was a fire cracker-like thing tied up with string,” said Special Commissioner of Police Dharmendra Kumar.

Joint Commissioner of Police (South) Amulya Patnaik also said it appeared to be “some sort of prank by somebody”.

However, many parents personally came to drop off their daughters and to check if all was safe, despite the only trace of the incident being seven sandbags placed there as a precaution and the bus stop cordoned off with yellow tape.

“My daughter is in second year and today it was her psychology exam from 2 p.m. Every day, she comes on her own but today I personally came to drop her after checking that the bomb was defused,” Rishi Pawar told IANS.

The latest incident came five days after a crude bomb went off in the parking lot of the Delhi High Court. No one was injured in the incident.