Is Betting Lobby Behind Bangalore’s Chinnaswamy Cricket `Bombs?’
From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore, April 19: Is the mutli-crore betting lobby behind the bomb explosion and planting of crude bombs outside the Chinnaswamy Cricket Stadium of Karnataka State Cricket Association ahead of the crucial match between local team Royal Challengers, Bangalore, and the Indian Premier League III toppers Mumbai Indians on Saturday, that finally led to the shifting of both the semi-final matches to Mumbai?
Well, Karnataka’s Home Minister Dr V S Acharya, who along with Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, are totally cheesed off with the IPL authorities decision to shift the matches away from Bangalore to Mumbai despite assuring total and complete police security, feels ``nothing can be ruled out.”
``The police are investigating all angles, including the role of betting lobby in the planting of the low-intensity blast as well as other crude bombs,” Dr Acharya told newsmen in Bangalore on Monday.
The police have intensified combing operations following the detection of two more unexploded crude bombs on Sunday apart from the one that triggered panic causing minor damage to a portion of the compound wall and injuries to several persons including policemen besides the detection of another unexploded bomb near the Anil Kumble Circle on Mahama Gandhi Road, the Home Minister said pointing out that the reasons for the blasts will be known only after completion of the probe.
Dr Acharya expressed displeasure over shifting of IPL semifinal matches to Mumbai by the organizers on the grounds of security fears notwithstanding the solemn assurances given by the State’s Director General of Police Dr Ajay Singh, City Police Commissioner Shankar Bidari as well as the Chief Minister himself.
He said that minor incidents such as detection of a few crude bombs could not be the only reason for shifting IPL semifinals to Mumbai. ``If that is the sole reason and no other reasons are there, how can Mumbai qualify or be considered safe for holding semifinal matches and even possibly the final match?,” he asked.
``We had assured the organisers of all security arrangements. No bomb was found at the stadium. There were some material found, which were non-explodable and waste material such as sodium chloride and salt. We are conducting thorough investigation and our police officials have adhered to the prescribed security checklist,” Dr Acharya said.
The government does not think that the IPL fixtures have been shifted due to security threats alone, he contended and pointed out that the shifting of the semifinal matches despite the promises and assurances given by the state government amounts was a serious aspersion to Bangalore and Karnataka.
"We are quite understandably perturbed,” he said contending that, ``There appears to be some other reason,which we will know once the investigations are over.”
Dr Acharya mentioned that ``some frustrated elements could have acted in their bid to shift the matches’’ and added that the state government felt quite disappointed.
He also ruled out any connection with the incidents that occurred in the city on July 25, 2008, when there were incidents of crude bomb blasts in different localities.