On Saturday night, Kataria was found lying unconscious and was rushed to a nearby hospital. Police sources said he was referred to AIIMS and is stable. (File) A 47-year-old DRDO scientist who was arrested by the Delhi Police’s Special Cell on Friday in connection with the recent blast inside the Rohini district court complex allegedly tried to commit suicide by consuming a toxic substance while in police custody.
The scientist, Bharat Bhushan Kataria, had allegedly planted the bomb to kill his neighbour who is a lawyer, said police. He was arrested by the Special Cell and was being interrogated. On Saturday night, Kataria was found lying unconscious and was rushed to a nearby hospital. Police sources said he was referred to AIIMS and is stable.
A senior police officer from the Special Cell said, “He has been trying to avoid questioning and keeps misleading police. On Saturday night, we found that he had consumed some liquid inside the washroom and was rushed to the hospital. He said he wanted to commit suicide… However, when police personnel went to check on him at the hospital, he told them he didn’t consume anything. But we spoke to doctors and they said he had consumed handwash… A senior doctor will check on him tomorrow and he will be discharged. All his vitals are normal. He will be interrogated soon.”
Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana on Saturday said they had recovered a robe of the kind worn by advocates, as well as other “incriminating” evidence from Kataria, who has been with the DRDO for 20 years.
Police said Kataria and Amit Vashisht, his alleged target, lived in the same building in Ashok Vihar till three years ago, and had a running dispute over use of the common terrace. Initial investigation has shown that Vashisht had filed a criminal complaint against Kataria and, the day the blast happened, the court was to hear framing of charges which, Kataria feared, would destroy his career.
“He and Vashisht have a long-standing dispute, going back over 10 years, and have filed over a dozen civil and criminal cases against each other,” DCP (Special Cell) Rajiv Ranjan Singh said.
On the day of the blast, he added, “Kataria placed a bag containing an IED behind Vashisht and triggered the IED from a safe distance with a remote”.
The low-intensity blast caused minor injuries to a Delhi Police constable but not any fatalities or much damage. Forensic experts and the National Security Guard (NSG) found that the circuit of the bomb kept in a tiffin had not been assembled properly, due to which only the detonator went off and not the half kilogram ammonium nitrate-based explosives.
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