Missing the Blast

Though the Bangalore City Police (BCP) is said to be analyzing the video
footage captured from the site of the bomb blast that happened at the
Chinnaswamy Stadium recently, the footage has no portion that could point at the
person planting the bomb. The thirty-four surveillance cameras installed in and
around the stadium are analog cameras that run on grid power supply provided by
Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM). Though the surveillance cameras
installed there can capture images at a distance of 100-200 meters, once the
power goes off, it does not work.

A Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) official, on condition of
anonymity, mentions that around the time of the first blast, there was no power
available at the stadium and hence surveillance cameras were not functioning for
a short time. All cameras were working but at the time of the blast there was
no power. Generators were turned on. Power outage was for a very short time,
says the official. In the absence of power, Chinnaswamy Stadium authorities
switches on generators for meeting its power requirements and these generators
are manually turned on. As per the official, these cameras remained off till the
time generators were turned on.

He did not elaborate much upon the infrastructure available at the stadium.
But the fact that cameras were not working at the time of the power disruption
from BESCOM grid indicates that the surveillance cameras lacked uninterrupted
power supply backupwhich could have been kept on at the time of switching power
arrangement at the stadium from grid power to power generators.

When asked about the reason for not acting or tracing suspicious persons
based on the recordings available from the surveillance camera, the official
mentions that he could not see any clip in the video footage where any person
planting the bomb could be noticed. He also adds that since the time the IPL
tournament started, security was handed over to the police department for
monitoring it.

BESCOM, on the other hand, denied the report that there was load shedding or
power disruption on April 17, 2010, the day when the bomb exploded. There was
load shedding on April 16, 2010 between 3-3.40 pm, but there was no power
disruption on April 17, on the day of the match, says CK Srinath, AEE, east,
Bangalore Metropolitan Area Zone, BESCOM.

If the investigators could not see anything suspicious in the video footage,
that means the bombs were planted during the time taken to shift power supply
arrangements at the stadium from grid power to power generators sets. It also
leads to another possibility that either the bombers had some insider in the
stadium to switch off power and inform them or they had done good research on
the stadiums power scenario before planting the bomb.

This also shows that bombers were more systematic than the security agencies!

Alok Kumar, joint commissioner, Police (crime) refused to comment on the
issue. Investigations are on and we cannot speak on any part of the
investigation or any related issue. When there will be any substantial
development then you will get to know, says Kumar. As far as the developments
are concerned, we have seen BCP beating around the bush and by mistake it held
five petty thieves hailing from Uttar Pradesh. However, BCP should be applauded
for immediately admitting and rectifying their mistake. Brijesh Patel,
secretary, KSCA also refused to talk on the security arrangements and glitches
that took place during the tournament. Its all over now, says Patel.

Prasoon Srivastava


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