Police teams investigating Friday’s blast at a city eatery that left nine injured have obtained visuals of the suspect from nearby security cameras and are said to be inching closer to identify the man.
In one visual, the accused is seen walking briskly towards The Rameshwaram Cafe in Kundalahalli, Whitefield, apparently to place the bag with the improvised explosive device (IED) that exploded an hour after he left.
Eight police teams have been assigned to the investigation, which is now being handled by the crime branch.
Chief minister Siddaramaiah told reporters after visiting the injured at two different hospitals in Whitefield that the footage clearly showed the suspect.
“Security camera visuals show the bearded man wearing a (baseball) cap arriving on a bus and eating (at the eatery). So in one or two days we will identify him and arrest him,” he said.
He said the suspect who arrived at the cafe around noon had placed a bag containing the IED that was apparently triggered by a timer device during the peak lunch hour in the IT neighbourhood.
The restaurant has confirmed that the man ordered rava idli and paid by cash apparently to prevent easy identification. He then kept the bag containing the IED near the washbasin before leaving.
After meeting the injured, Siddaramaiah told reporters: “We have told the doctors to provide the best available treatment for all of them and the government would bear all expenses to treat them back to good health.”
While speculation was rife since morning about three or four men being detained for questioning, city police commissioner B. Dayananda urged restraint. “I request the media not to indulge in speculation in view of the sensitivity of the case,” he said.
The police have registered a case under several penal sections apart from the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Explosives Substances Act.
Home minister G. Parameshwara said the police have identified 26 buses operated by state-run Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation that ran services to and from the area around the time when the suspect was caught on the security cameras.
Of the nine injured in the blast, a woman techie identified as 46-year-old Swarnamba has suffered burns and shrapnel wounds on her face, hands and legs. An accountant in an IT firm, 26-year-old Nagashree, suffered grievous injuries to her right eye.
Dr Pradeep Kumar, medical director at Brookefield Hospital told reporters that Swarnamba underwent surgery and was recovering well. The surgeons removed glass shards and plastic pieces lodged deep in her face below the right ear.
“She will be kept in the ICU for another day since she is a diabetic and will be moved to the ward tomorrow,” he told reporters.
But Dr Seema, head of ophthalmology at Vydehi Hospital where Nagashree is undergoing treatment, sounded less optimistic. “Her right eye is badly damaged due to shrapnels. There is very little chance of restoration of vision in the right eye,” she told reporters.
While no one suffered life-threatening injuries, most of the seven others who were injured are likely to be discharged in a day or two. Two injured men, one of them a worker at the eatery, admitted at Brookefield Hospital would have to undergo surgery to repair their damaged tympanic membrane.
