Varanasi

At least nine people, including four lawyers and a boy, were killed and 45 injured when two powerful blasts rocked the Collectorate and Civil Court premises in Varanasi within a span of two minutes.

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. “This is definitely the handiwork of terror outfits since similar blasts have occurred in Lucknow and Faizabad also,” he told mediapersons outside the district hospital.

... contd.