Kollam blast probe reaches nowhere

KOLLAM: The  investigations conducted by various agencies into the Kollam court complex blast four-and-a-half-months ago  have reached nowhere.  A similar blast  at the Malappuram court complex on Tuesday points to the failure of  the security agencies to crack the case and  ensure security to the citizens. The blast  at  Malappuram  is the latest in the series  of similar ones that have taken place  at Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh on April 7,  Kollam  on June 15 and  Mysore on August 1 inside court complexes.

Following the Kollam blast, an investigation team from Kollam had conducted a joint inquiry with the Karnataka police and Andhra police and assisted by central  agencies to link the incidents.  The team later focused on the involvement of a splinter group based in South India. An improvised electronic device (IED) set up in a pressure cooker had exploded near the washroom of the court complex in Mysore while the other three blasts were due to IEDs planted on vehicles parked inside the court complexes.

The investigation team had earlier found that the batteries and the circuit boards used for the blast in Kollam were of the same series used  in Chittoor.  They were  purchased from Secunder-abad in Andhra Pradesh. An IED prepared using a steel tiffin box and planted under a jeep belonging to the labour department had exploded at the parking area of the court complex in the Kollam collectorate. The forensic team and bomb squad  retrieved 14 fuses and 17 batteries that were used to ignite the bomb.