Kerala police unravels letter bomb mystery

The Kerala police Monday unravelled the mystery behind the three letter bombs that had gone off hours before President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam arrived here Sep 21.

"We have taken into custody a 29-year-old man named Rajiv alias Sharma, son of a retired soldier, from the outskirts of the city. He has confessed the crime and said it was meant to frighten his adversaries to whom the letters were sent," Director General of Police Raman Srivatsava said here.

"This incident had nothing to do with the president's visit," he added.

The first two letter bombs exploded at the Manacaud post office in the heart of this Kerala capital when postal employees were sorting letters for delivery.

One letter bomb was defused by police at a post office. One exploded at Kesvadasapuram in a hardware shop later in the day when the shop owner opened a letter.

"Rajiv had sent a total of six letter bombs. Due to the postal delay, the remaining two letter bombs sent to addresses within the city went off last week," said the top police official.