Mumbai blasts: Cops looking for a couple

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Last updated on: August 26, 2003 20:26 IST

The Mumbai police are looking for a couple that had hired the taxi in which a bomb had exploded near the the Gateway of India.

The taxi driver, S N Pandey, told the police that the couple had told him to wait near the Gateway of India while they had lunch at Colaba. Pandey, who went out for a stroll, was shocked to see the taxi reduced to ashes seconds after he stepped out.

After interrogating him, a Mumbai police team left for Pune and other places in interior Maharashtra to pursue some leads.

Meanwhile, with two more persons succumbing to injuries, the toll in the blasts has gone up to 52. The 150 people injured in the incident are reported to be out of danger.

Experts from the National Security Guards and army have flown down to Mumbai to examine the site of the blasts and the debris to verify whether RDX was used.

Life in Mumbai is returning back to normal as people made their way to work and children heading for their schools and colleges. A railway spokesperson said that all the trains are running on schedule and the passenger traffic was as is on a working day.

Approximately 64 lakh (6.4 million) people commute by the local trains in Mumbai everyday.

Brihanmumbai Electrical Supply Transport also reported that its services are normal and so is the passenger traffic. BEST buses ferry approximately 45 lakh (4.5 million) people daily.

It may be recalled that the spirit of Mumbai residents was intact even after March 1993 with almost everyone reporting to work the very next day after the serial blasts in the city.

However, security has been beefed up in every area. There are regular announcement at railway stations warning commuters to keep away from unidentified objects.

At the airports (domestic and international), curbs have been placed on the entry of visitors.

Recent blasts in Mumbai
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