By IANS,
Bangalore : Karnataka will use a tough law relating to organised crimes to deal with terrorists in the wake of the July 25 serial blasts in India’s IT hub.
The law, which came into force in December 2001, allows arrest without warrant, up to six months detention without court approval and does not provide for bail. While the minimum punishment under it is five years in jail and a fine of Rs.100,000, the maximum is death or life imprisonment and fine.
“The recent serial blasts in Bangalore has brought to fore the deficiencies in the internal security system and the need for improvement in the working of police department,” Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa told top civil and police officials at a meeting here Saturday.
The chief minister said the police should invoke the Karnataka Organised Crimes Prevention Act to check such incidents.
The eight serial blasts killed one woman and injured seven people. No group has claimed responsibility for the low-intensity blasts and no one has been arrested by the Karnataka police.
A reward of Rs.100,000 has been announced for information leading to the arrest of the people behind the blasts.
In related developments, another low-intensity crude bomb was found Friday night at Channapatna, 70 km from here, and defused. On July 27 police had recovered about seven kg of explosives, similar to the ones used for the Bangalore blasts, from Channapatna.
A day before the Bangalore explosions, a blast had taken place in Channapatna but apparently the local police did not attach importance to it thinking it could be due to stone quarrying in the area.