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Two unidentified men on a motorcycle reportedly threw a bomb and a piece of flesh at a temple in the Jattiwara locality of Meerut some time after dawn on Tuesday morning. The temple priest and a couple of women devotees were injured in the explosion.
The attack sent ripples of panic through the town and galvanised the police into a state of high alert. Residents poured out on to the streets and there were impromptu demonstrations for the attackers' arrest. There was, however, no violence of any sort, with elder citizens persuading the younger lot to keep their heads.
An FIR has been lodged against "unidentified persons", senior superintendent of police (SSP) B.P. Singh said. The situation was under control, and additional police and PAC personnel were on duty in the town.
The incident happened at 6 a.m., Singh said. "The priest, Upendra Narayan Jha, heard the sound of a motorcycle but could not see anyone." Singh said "animal flesh" and explosive remains had been recovered from the spot.
Alok, an area resident and witness, said Jha had been standing in the courtyard of the temple after morning prayers. "I heard the roar of a motorcycle and saw two men approach the temple. One of them hurled a polythene bag inside the temple."
Locals rushed the priest and the two injured devotees to the district hospital. All had suffered splinter injuries, but no one was seriously hurt.
SSP Singh said "miscreants" had been trying to sabotage communal harmony in the area for the past several days, but had been kept at bay because of the people’s vigilance.
The Samajwadi Party sniffed a plot.
The party's former state general secretary Gopal Aggarwal said the attack
was a "well planned conspiracy" by people who wished to take political
mileage. "After carrying out their plan successfully in Bareilly and Agra
they now want to target this town,” he said.
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