UP Stamps and Registrations Minister Nand Gopal Gupta 'Nandi' and seven other people were injured in a bomb blast outside his residence in Allahabad on Monday. One of the injured victims later succumbed to his injuries.
"The 40-45 year old man who died on account of the blast has been identified as Rakesh Malviya," a local official told mediapersons.
Earlier, District Magistrate Sanjay Prasad and Additional Director General of Police Brij Lal had denied any casualties in the incident.
It is learnt that Malviya had met the minister for some work and was walking with him in the lane outside his house when the explosion took place.
The blast took place in the Mutthiiganj locality of Allahabad at 11.45 am after Nandi stepped out of his residence to visit a nearby temple.
Besides the minister, three government employees and Indian Express journalist Vijay Pratap Singh were seriously injured in the blast. The other injured victims were police constable Sanjay, the minister's aide Pritam and Shyam Babu, a sweeper.
"They are all undergoing treatment at a local hospital," District Magistrate Sanjay Prasad told rediff.com.
While the minister was reportedly 'out of danger', the condition of Vijay Pratap Singh and Sanjay continued to be serious.
The state's Anti-Terrorism Squad and Special Task Force will probe the blast jointly
"We have to get to the bottom of this explosion and we will not leave any stone unturned to bring the culprits to book," said Additional Director General of Police Brij Lal.
Contradicting earlier reports about the bomb being a low-intensity crude one, he said, "The intensity of the explosion could be gauged from the fact that three motor-cycles parked along a wall were almost ripped apart while a moped went flying in the air
before falling a couple of metres away."
He did not rule out the possibility of a major conspiracy behind the bomb attack.
"The bomb may have been planted either in the moped or in one of the motor-bikes," said Brij Lal.
© 2024 Rediff.com -