Mumbai, Jul 15: In a development that could put speculation to rest about possible involvement of a suicide bomber in Mumbai serial blasts, police and authorities at state-run hospital today said the body found with a ‘circuit' near an explosion site was identified and handed over to the family members.
Asked about the finding of a body with circuit, J J Hospital Dean T P Lahane said “the person you are talking about was identified as Gumaan Singh Rathod (35). A metal piece was found in his body. The piece was taken out from the body while conducting post mortem and it was handed over to the police... It was a metal piece and not a circuit. The family members of Rathod have claimed the body found at Zaveri Bazar blast site.”
Speaking to reporters in Delhi yesterday, Union Home Secretary R K Singh had said “the NSG DG has informed that a body with circuit has been found from one of the sites. The body was found near the explosion site. We are not ruling out anything”.
Secretary (Internal Security) in the Home Ministry U K Bansal had said in Delhi there could be several reasons of finding circuit in the body of one of the victims.
“One of the possibilities is that the person concerned might have been standing near the bomb and as a result some parts of the bomb imbibed it (body). There is another possibility that it could be planted on his body. But as of now, we are not in a position to say anything,” he had said.
Asked about the possible involvement of a suicide bomber, Maharashtra ATS chief Rakesh Maria had also yesterday said it was too early to comment on it.
Maria could not be contacted today but Mumbai police spokesperson Nisar Tamboli said “the body was identified and handed over to the family members.”
“If he was a suicide bomber, we would have faced difficulties in identifying the body and nobody would have come to claim the body,” said another police officer. Meanwhile, the deceased, whose only severed head had been found at Zaveri Bazaar blast site, was also identified as Kishan Shivsharan Mandal, police said adding all the 18 bodies have been identified.
Eighteen persons were killed and over 130 injured when three near-simultaneous blasts ripped through crowded areas of Mumbai on July 13. PTI
