One dead in Goa blast, police rule out terror angle

Panaji, May 8 (IANS) One person died and five others, including three members of a family, injured after a crude bomb used to kill wild animals, exploded Thursday evening while it was being assembled at a home in a village near here, police said, ruling out any terror angle.

Paplu Mulgund, 31, from Hubli in Karnataka, died in the explosion, which turned even more lethal with a gas cylinder in the one-room tenement in San Jose de Areal village, 40 kms from Panaji, also exploding.

His wife and two children and two neighbours were injured and have been shifted to the Hospicio hospital in Margao.

Although formal statements of the injured have not been recorded yet, police claim that forensic examination has revealed that footprint of the explosive was similar to the locally assembled crude explosives, which are used by poachers to kill wild boars and other wild game in Goa's forests.

"Possession of the explosive with requisite permission is illegal and the deceased was in the process of making the bomb when the accident occurred," police said, adding that Mulgund had just purchased the detonators and dynamite from a source and was rigging together the contraption at home when the blast occurred.

Speaking to reporters, Deputy Inspector General O.P. Mishra ruled out a terror possibility.

The incident however had triggered chaos in the state, especially after the news of the blast first emanated from the union home ministry in New Delhi.