It was meant to be the symbolic moment when good triumphs over evil. But for the people of Rudrapur in the Terai region, it was evil that eventually ruled the day. The Ram Lila ground, decked up for Dussehra festivities, became a killing ground. In just 15 minutes the festive arena exploded into a macabre terrorist target. And when the smoke cleared, there were over 40 corpses, scores of torn limbs and screaming children.

Though the police weren't entirely unprepared for the October 17 explosions, the blasts still took them by surprise. In the past few months there had been one blast in a Rudrapur market, and a bomb in a state roadways bus was defused in the nick of time. Last month, the Terai-based Bhindranwale Saffron Tigers of Khalistan (BSTK) pasted posters in Rudrapur threatening people with large-scale killings. The Intelligence Bureau too warned of terrorist attacks.

Injured Victims

The police went on a massive hunt, looking for potential death dealers. On October 17, four companies of the BSF aided by the police made an intensive search in the town. Ram Lila sites were put under special scrutiny. In fact, just hours before the blasts a police party had inspected a Ram Lila ground close to the one which got blown up.

The tragedy struck when Lord Ram was laying the bridge to Lanka. The nails, nuts and bolts packed with the explosive flew like bullets in all directions. The hundreds of onlookers did not stand a chance.

The police bundled the injured and the dead into vehicles and drove them to the Nehru Hospital nearby. The militants had counted on this. For 15 minutes later, another explosion followed. A bicycle leaning against the hospital wall was the instrument of death this time. Four women carrying an injured person died on the spot. And a 10-year-old boy, who had merely been grazed" in the first incident, was mangled to death.

Bomb splinters: striking terror

Two groups have so far claimed responsibility: the BSTK and the Khalistan National Army. But Singh says: "We believe it's the BSTK. They alone use explosives." Even though the police have picked up a woman in whose house the plot was supposedly hatched, officials are not calling it a breakthrough. "I doubt the conspirators met in Rudrapur," notes an official. The police are certain the killers are hovering in the surrounding jungles and cane-fields.

Typically, local politicians are crying themselves hoarse. The Congress(I) is demanding the dismissal of the state Government while the BJP is putting the blame for the blasts on the furore created by Congressmen over the Pilibhit killings. In all this, the real tragedy has almost been forgotten amidst the heap of mangled bodies, injured people, and orphaned children who line the corridors of Nehru Hospital.