Man plants bomb in Allahabad HC premises, held

ALLAHABAD: One person was arrested for planting a 'tiffin bomb' in the premises of Allahabad High Court here on Friday, police said. The accused has been identified as Santosh Kumar Agrahari and he has admitted to planting the bomb. He told the police during questioning that he had planted the bomb in anger as his services had not been made permanent despite his working for the last 14 years. Earlier, jitters went down the spine of the security and police personnel when explosives were found, packed in a tiffin box, in the high-security court premises. The suspicious packet was spotted by a passerby who immediately informed the police. ATS, district and senior police officials rushed to the court premises and a bomb disposal squad was pressed into service. The bag and the tiffin contained concrete, 'sutli' bombs, some explosive material and pellets, an official said. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Shalabh Mathur said the white-coloured powder recovered from the tiffin is being sent to forensic lab for testing the nature of explosives. There are more than 200 CCTV cameras in the court premises and the recordings of all were watched. Meanwhile, security of the Allahabad High Court premises and other courts in the state has been beefed up. An official of the state home department, while ruling out any terror angle to the incident, however, said that since courts have been prone to terror attacks in the past, instructions have been issued to step up vigil.