ROURKELA: Former Rourkela Municipality councillor Asesh Mohanty narrowly escaped a bomb attack with minor injuries at Basanti colony here on Thursday.
Mohanty, also a transport businessman, was entering his house at around 9.45 pm when a bomb exploded near him. Although of low intensity, the explosion left him with shrapnel injuries. He rushed inside the house and his family members later shifted him to hospital. Mohanty said he saw no one at the explosion site but he had faced a similar attack in 2010.
Police on Friday detained a local businessman and two others in this connection. Rourkela SP K Shiva Subramani said the explosion occurred from a low-intensity improvised explosive device made of bottle. An unexploded bottle was found from the spot was defused. The preliminary investigation pointed to past rivalry as the reason behind the attack. A case has been registered.
In September 2010, a murderous attack had taken place on Mohanty and his employee near his office at Uditnagar, but both survived the attack. Mohanty had received a bullet in his thigh.
Mohanty also had criminal antecedents but he had reportedly left the world of crime long back.