9-volt battery used to power parcel bomb,say police

A 40-year-old visa consultant,Mohammad Uzair,was injured when the bomb that was wrapped in a parcel exploded after he opened it. The incident was reported from Shaheen Bagh area in Jamia Nagar.

A case of attempt to murder and under the Explosive Substance Act has been registered at the Jamia Nagar police station after Uzair personal accountant Ijaz Ahmad gave a statement.

The police are yet to record Uzair’s statement. He has not been declared fit to give statement by the doctors yet,the police said. A doctor at the AIIMS,where Uzair’s is admitted,said,“His condition is stable. He has injuries on his face and eyes,which will make it difficult for him to talk.”

Explaining the mechanism of the explosive device,a senior police officer said,“It is essentially a pressure bomb. As soon as a person opens such a bomb,a pressure is created,which ignites the battery inside. Screws and sharp glass pieces explode with the aid of an explosive liquid.”

The police said the crude bomb was packed tightly in a size-eight shoe box (9”x5”x3”),which was wrapped in a pink chart paper.

Police officials said the material used in the bomb — screws,wires,chart paper — are easily available at any hardware store,making the task of investigators harder.

According to the FIR,Ahmed told the police an unidentified man on a motorcycle stopped outside the under construction building Uzair was supervising. The man,who was reportedly “in his early 40s,wheatish in complexion,five feet nine inches tall,well-built,had thick black moustache and dressed in shirt and pant”,asked for Uzair.

“He told me he had come from Laxmi Nagar to deliver a parcel to Uzair. He told me one Ashad Ashri had sent him. I took the ploythene cover,which contained the parcel,from him and asked him to wait outside. When I delivered the packet to Uzair sahib,he asked me to call the messenger. When I went there,he was gone,” Ijaz said in his police complaint.

The police said one Ashad Ashri is the brother-in-law of Uzair and is settled in Saudi Arabia.

The bomb exploded as soon as Uzair opened the parcel injuring his face,palms and upper torso,the police said. Ijaz was about “12 feet away when the parcel exploded”.

As the sender of parcel knew Uzair’s address,the location of the building that he was supervising and his relatives,the police suspect the accused is someone close to the family.

According to the police,the victim’s brother-in-law,whose name was cited by the man who delivered the parcel,reportedly has a property dispute with Uzair.

The clothes that Uzair was wearing have been sent for forensic examination,the police said.

The police said Uzair has multiple businesses of construction and property dealing. He also owns a company,Al-Hind Foreign Service Agency,which supplies manpower to construction companies in the Gulf region.