Bengaluru MLA NA Haris has been injured in his leg after a minor explosion at a private event in the city’s Viveknagar area. The incident took place around 8.30 pm on Wednesday, January 22. Four others have also been injured, and all of them have been admitted to Philomena Hospital in Bengaluru.
According to some reports, the 53-year-old MLA was on stage attending the event, when something fell near him on the stage and exploded. The police have told TNM that it is believed to be a firecracker, and that further investigations are underway. “There was a cracker show,” Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao told TNM, “Immediately after the cracker show, there was a minor blast. Our officials including the ACP and DCP have reached the spot. Everyone has confirmed it was a cracker blast. The area has been sanitised.” Police sources also said that forensic experts were on the spot to inspect the nature of explosion.
However, the MLA’s son, Mohammed Nalapad, has said that something was placed under his father’s chair. "There was something under the chair that my father sat on. It exploded. My father has injuries on his leg, his friend hurt his hand. We're shocked something like this has happened in our constituency. Don't know who did it,” Nalapad told a news channel.
DCP Central Chethan Singh Rathore told TNM, "I am meeting the MLA and briefing the media. It is almost confirmed it is an explosion. It was a cracker. Some of the crackers were unburst and it fell down."
The MLA was attending an MGR birth anniversary celebration in Viveknagar's Vannarpet area, in the Shantinagar constituency.
Haris is a three-time MLA from Shantinagar constituency in Bengaluru, having been first voted to power in 2008. Haris served briefly as Chairman of the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation following the 2018 Assembly Elections.
The latest incident comes two months after Congress MLA Tanveer Sait suffered injuries to his neck after an assailant stabbed him with a machete at a wedding function in Mysuru in November. Eight people were arrested for the attack on Sait.