Silence after blast-like thunder

The sketches of the suspects

New Delhi, Sept. 7: A loud blast-like rumble and Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital became dead quiet for a few seconds this morning, despite the surging flow of the wounded, their relatives, police and politicians.

The cops rushed to a window. Was it another blast, targeting the injured being wheeled in?

It was only thunder. But seeing the plainclothesmen scurry in alarm and then hurry back, nobody laughed.

Seconds before, the scene inside the hospital was of chaos. A horrible stench hung over the wards of the hospital where most of the injured had been brought.

The entrances of the emergency and surgery wards were jammed with relatives. Each time a stretcher rolled in with somebody lying swathed in bloodied bandages, the crowd surged forward.

Fatima Bi, whose brother was in the court today, shrieked at a constable: “Why are you trying to stop us now? Couldn’t you stop those b***s before they did this? I want to find my brother. Just tell me if he is alive.”

Islam Khan, an east Delhi shopkeeper, was there for his sons, Rashid and Imran, who were injured. Imran escaped with minor cuts but Rashid was hit in the abdomen.

The brothers had gone for a hearing. “I was standing in line at the gate to get our entry passes. There was a loud sound and then there was smoke everywhere. When it cleared, I saw hands, legs and blood all around. Rashid was covered in blood,” Imran said.

Mahesh Kumar, a railway employee, was walking past the court when the explosion happened. His clothes were torn from the impact and his face was now red with an antiseptic ointment. “All I remember is hands, fingers and pieces of flesh all around,” he said.

A jawan was also among the injured. Rajesh Kumar, of the Rajasthan Armed Constabulary, was at the gate at the time of the explosion and suffered a serious leg injury. National Investigation Agency sleuths, who were roaming the wards, spotted him.

“What did you see?” a sleuth asked. “There was a loud blast. My ears are still ringing,” Rajesh said. He was soon taken away for debriefing.

In the commotion, Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit, Rahul Gandhi and BJP president Nitin Gadkari visited the hospital. When a patient told Gadkari that doctors weren’t bothered about him, he pulled up the nearest stethoscope-wearing woman.

Another doctor mumbled: “Doesn’t he (Gadkari) realise he’s causing more inconvenience to the patients than helping them.” Ravi Shankar, a doctor who had not seen a blast emergency scene before, said: “This has been a big learning experience (for me) but I pray I never see anything like this again.”