Church Street, usually abuzz with tourists, shoppers and clients of the many restaurants in the area, was a pale shadow of its former self after a low-intensity bomb exploded there, killing one and injuring others. The only crowds were of curious onlookers and journalists around the barricade the police had erected close to Coconut Grove, the restaurant outside which the bomb had gone off.
Located just off MG Road in this city's central business district, the street is dotted with popular eateries, pubs and shops. Business had evidently taken a hit. At Mainland China, most of the staff were outside the restaurant. “We were not officially closed but there were no customers for lunch,” said Jytoish Philip, manager.
Usually, there are 60-70 customers for lunch and 100 for dinner. Philip added that he hoped things would return to normal by evening, when the barricade is expected to be removed.
"We were in the office when the blast happened, and we thought it was a transformer that caught fire because that's what happened last year during the same time, very close to the same spot," said an onlooker who said she works in one of the buildings close to Coconut Grove.
While Monday afternoons are usually dull for the popular pub Social, its manager, R Patrick, said they had shut down at 10 pm on Sunday, an hour-and-a-half early, because of rumours about more blasts. "We are hoping business will pick up by evening," he said.
Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had announced that the SIT would be investigating the blast and security had been stepped up at areas within five kilometres of the Vidhan Soudha, where more than 100 people visit daily. The government is also considering creating a separate cadre of the intelligence division.
Even as there are hopes of normalcy restoring at Church Street by evening, the city may be in for a rather dull New Year's eve, which is just about 50 hours away.
olice inspect the spot where a low intensity bomb exploded on Sunday night at Church Street, in Bengaluru.
Several social organisations in the city had run campaigns requesting the authorities to allow parties beyond the usual 11 pm restriction on New Year's eve. Granting the requests, the government had earlier permitted pubs and eateries to remain open until 2 am on January 1. However, Patrick at Social said the police has told outlets around MG Road to close by 1 am on New Year's. "We are also hearing that this might be further reduced to midnight," he said.
Mainland China, which usually gets about 250 clients for the New Year's eve dinner, has not got any cancellations so far, says Philip, even as he looks apprehensive about the prospects of business that day considering the proximity of his restaurant from the blast site.
Meanwhile, the Bengaluru police is trying its best to stem any panic among citizens. "Security stepped up in entire city & Public don't pay heed to rumors. Please report anything suspicious to nearest Police Station," reads a post by the city police's handle on micro-blogging website Twitter