Blasts Target

The first blast occurred near the new shed of lawyers, edging the rearside of the new Civil Court building at 1.05 pm. The second blast took place near the lower lock-up and ACM I and ACM II courts on the Collectorate premises at 1.07 pm.

Both the bombs had been planted on cycles parked near the benches of lawyers and the distance between the two spots was hardly 100 metres, SP City Rajiv Malhotra said.

The four lawyers who died have been identified as Bramha Prakash Sharma 40, a resident of Rohania, Bhola Nath Singh 45 from Paharia, Kamrun Zama 40 from Chandauli district and Buddha Raj Verma 25, a resident of Rohania.

The injured have been admitted to the district hospital, Singh Medical Centre, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital and Banaras Hindu University Hospital. The condition of three is stated to be critical.

The Collectorate and the Civil Court are situated at short distance from the Circuit House where UP Chief Secretary P K Mishra had arrived a few minutes earlier.

Mishra later visited the hospitals where the injured were being treated. 8220;This is definitely the handiwork of terror outfits since similar blasts have occurred in Lucknow and Faizabad also,8221; he told mediapersons outside the district hospital.

The CS said the Special Task Force of the state police will probe the matter. The state Government has announced an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh each to the next of kin of those killed and Rs 50,000 to those seriously injured.

While the police remained tight-lipped over the entire incident, intelligence sources said the blast could be the fallout of an attack on three JeM ultras in the Lucknow court premises recently and the refusal by lawyers to fight their case.

Suspecting the hand of Bangladesh-based terror outfit HuJi in the blasts, they said initial investigations point towards the use of Ammonium Nitrate-based explosives powered by a timer device.

The bomb disposal squad of state police had collected samples from the two blast sites and anything could be clear only after lab testing of the samples. A team of Forensic experts from New Delhi was likely to arrive in the state to speed up investigations, SP City Malhotra said.

Interestingly, when the blast occurred, a protest rally of the BJP was being organised on the main road outside the Collectorate where former UP minister Lalji Tandon was also present.