The 2014 Chennai train bombing is the explosion of two low-intensity bombs on the early hours of 1 May 2014, Thursday at

Chennai Central railway station Chennai Central (station code: MAS, short for ''Madras''), officially known as Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central Railway Station, is the main railway terminus in the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is the busiest railway ...

. The Bangalore–Guwahati Kaziranga Superfast Express which came from

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

and was going towards

Guwahati Guwahati (, ; formerly rendered Gauhati, ) is the biggest city of the Indian state of Assam and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the ...

was standing on platform 09 of

, when two blasts occurred in two coaches S4 and S5. The bombing killed one female passenger and injured at least fourteen others. The

Students Islamic Movement of India The Students' Islamic Movement of India (abbreviated SIMI) is a banned terrorist organisation that was formed in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh in April 1977. The stated mission of SIMI is the ‘liberation of India’ by converting it to an Islamic la ...

claimed responsibility for the attack, stating that it was in revenge for the removal of some Muslims from the train in 2012. Its affiliate the

Indian Mujahideen Indian Mujahideen (IM) is an Islamic terrorist group which has been particularly active in India. The jihadist group was founded as an offshoot of the Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) by several radicalized members including Iqbal Bh ...

is also suspected of involvement.

Attack

The Guwahati-bound train from Bangalore, 12509-Guwahati–Bangalore Kaziranga Express, was scheduled to arrive at

Chennai Central Chennai Central (station code: MAS, short for ''Madras''), officially known as Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central Railway Station, is the main railway terminus in the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is the busiest railway ...

around 5:30 a.m. (

IST Ist or IST may refer to: Information Science and Technology * Bachelor's or Master's degree in Information Science and Technology * Graduate School / Faculty of Information Science and Technology, Hokkaido University, Japan * Graduate School ...

), but it had arrived late around 7:05 a.m. (IST). While the train was stationed at Platform 9 of the railway station, two bombs exploded at the buffer of S4 and S5 coaches at 7:15 a.m. (IST). Upon hearing the explosion, panicked passengers rushed out of the train. One of the bombs had exploded under the seat of a 24-year-old woman, who was employed with

Tata Consultancy Services Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is an Indian multinational information technology (IT) services and consulting company with its headquarters in Mumbai. It is a part of the Tata Group and operates in 150 locations across 46 countries. In July ...

in Bangalore. She was the only person killed in the attack, was travelling to her home town

Guntur Guntur () is a city and the administrative headquarters of Guntur district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Guntur is spread across 168.49 km square and is the third-largest city in the state. It is situated to the west of the Ba ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

. Of the fourteen injured passengers, five were admitted in serious condition at Rajiv Gandhi General Hospital.

Aftermath

Investigation

The damaged bogies were detached and the train was searched by a bomb-disposal squad and was then allowed to carry on with its onward journey. Following the incident police have mounted a massive search operation in all the trains. The cause of explosion and device used for it were being probed. A suspect who had been detained by

Tamil Nadu Police Tamil Nadu Police is the primary law enforcement agency of the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is over 150 years old and is the fifth largest state police force in India.

was found to be innocent. An investigation by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been ordered. A

National Investigation Agency The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is the primary counter-terrorist task force of India. The agency is empowered to deal with the investigation of terror related crimes across states without special permission from the states under written ...

team was sent to Chennai to assist in the case. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister

Jayalalithaa Jayaram Jayalalithaa (24 February 1948 – 5 December 2016) was an Indian politician and actress who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for more than fourteen years over six terms between 1991 and 2016. From 9 February 1989 to 5 December 2 ...

ordered a CB-CID probe into the blasts. Initial investigation revealed that the bombs might have been planted in the train five to six hours before it blasted. Also, the devices used in the bomb were found to be similar to the one used in Patna rally bombing by

that occurred six months before.

Security measures

Immediately after the blasts, security was tightened across the major crowded areas of the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

. Alerts have been sounded in the neighbouring state of

, with police checking all major railway stations across the state. Also, a high security red alert has been declared in the capital city of

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

Compensation

The deceased identified as 24-year-old women travelling from Bangalore to Vijayawada, had been sitting in the seat where the explosion occurred. Union railway minister,

Mallikarjun Kharge Mapanna Mallikarjun Kharge (born 21 July 1942) is an Indian politician, who is the current president of the Indian National Congress, and Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha from Karnataka since 16 February 2021. He became the first person outside ...

announced an ex-gratia of 1

lakh A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2,2,3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. For ex ...

(100,000 Rupees, approximately US$1667) to the family of the dead woman, 25,000 for grievously injured and 5,000 for those with minor injuries.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister The chief minister of Tamil Nadu is the chief executive of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with th ...

also announced a solatium of 100,000 to the family of the dead, 50,000 to those who suffered serious injuries and 25,000 to other injured people.

Fake bomb report

On the day following the bombing, an anonymous call about a bomb

Express Avenue Express Avenue ( Tamil: எக்ஸ்ப்ரெஸ் அவென்யூ) is a shopping mall in Chennai promoted by Express Infrastructure, A division of Express Newspapers Pvt. Ltd. It is home to the largest gaming arcade in South India. ...

mall in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

was made, which resulted in closing of the mall for public for a few hours on 2 May and after searching the mall for suspicious objects, police declared it as a hoax. Similar bomb threat calls were made to an education institution and a suburban railway station in Chennai on the day after the bombing, which prompted the police to issue warning against such activities. Law enforcement was kept on alert for a while following the explosion and subsequent threats.

References

External links

Incident Summary
at the

Global Terrorism Database The Global Terrorism Database (GTD) is a database of terrorist incidents from 1970 onward. As of May 2021, the list extended through 2019 recording over 200,000 incidents, although data from 1993 is excluded. The database is maintained by the Na ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chennai train bombing 2014 murders in India Railway accidents in 2014 Explosions in 2014 2010s in Chennai Improvised explosive device bombings in India May 2014 crimes in Asia May 2014 events in India Railway accidents and incidents in Tamil Nadu Terrorist incidents in India in 2014 Train bombings in Asia Unsolved murders in India Islamic terrorism in India Indian Mujahideen attacks