Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Minister Nand Gopal Nandi was badly injured in a bomb blast outside his residence in Allahabad on Monday morning. The explosion was apparently caused by a bomb hidden inside a motorcycle parked near the minister's vehicle. The minister is stable but critical after a surgery and police suspect that he was not the target in the blast. Two security guards of the minister were killed and three policemen along with a local journalist Vijay Pratap Singh were injured in the bomb attack. The 36-year-old Nandi, who is the Minister for Institutional Finance, Stamp and Judicial Tax in the Mayawati government, was admitted to Jeevan Jyoti Hospital and had slipped into coma However, he recovered and is now reportedly put of danger. “One reporter, one policemen and the minister have bullet injuries. We are treating all of them. The minister is in coma. The minister has chest, face and hand injury. All of them are in ICU. The journalist is serious,” said Dr DP Singh of Jeevan Jyoti Hospital. Four Special Operations Teams have been constituted to track and arrest the culprits. Soon after news of the attack spread, tension gripped the city and shops were shut down in many areas. Inspector General of Police SK Singh, who visited the explosion site, said that the blast was “quite powerful” and had damaged a number of other vehicles and walls of buildings located in the congested street where the minister's residence is located.
