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Mohan Babu was target of blast: aide

''There are enough indications to prove that film actor and Rajya Sabha member Mohan Babu was the target of Wednesday's car bomb blast in Hyderabad which killed 24 people.''

Venkaiah Naidu, the star's close aide, made this startling revelation today to Rediff On The NeT.

Both Mohan Babu and former labour minister and sitting Penukonda legislator Paritala Ravi, who, the state government believes, was the target, sustained injuries in the blast.

That Ravi was not the target, Venkaiah Naidu claims, is established by the fact that the former minister drove past the parked explosive-laden car at least five times that morning. ''Moreover, he even walked by the car at least once a little while before the bomb exploded.''

Quoting Mohan Babu, the aide said that, if the culprits were gunning for Ravi, they would have easily eliminated him on one of these occasions.

Venkaiah said a police van, which followed Mohan Babu and Ravi's Tata Sumo when they emerged out of the Rama Naidu studio on the fateful day, disappeared mysteriously after the explosion. ''This gives rise to the suspicion that the police may be involved in the blast,'' he said. ''It was a hi-tech conspiracy, obviously hatched at the highest level.''

Mohan Babu is angry at the way the investigation into the bomb blast is being conducted. ''Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Home Minister A Madhav Reddy are deliberately trying to mislead the investigation,'' Venkaiah Naidu said, adding that a crime branch team visited Mohan Babu in the hospital yesterday to find out whom he suspected in the case.

The star, however, told the police that he would be able to talk only after a few days.

Mohan Babu favours a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the blast. ''He does not have faith in the crime branch as he suspects cops's involvement,'' Venkaiah Naidu said.

Anticipating a threat to his life in August itself, Mohan Babu had written a letter to the chief minister, urging the government to step up his security.

Though the threatening calls continued, there has been no response to Mohan Babu's request to date, Venkaiah Naidu said. The star was recently expelled from the Telugu Desam Party, following his campaign against the chief minister.

Mohan Babu was disturbed by the calls, and now that he had a close brush with death, he is still in a daze and may take at least a week to recover from the shock, Venkaiah Naidu said.

While the chief minister said the blast could have been the handiwork of Ravi's rivals in the faction-ridden Rayalaseema region, the home minister went on record the very day of the blast that the People's War Group Naxalites's hand could not be ruled out. At one time, Ravi was a PWG member.

Doctors at the Apollo hospital said Mohan Babu could be discharged in a day or two. The film star's ears, injured as a result of the deafening explosion, however, are still said to be causing him great inconvenience.

EARLIER REPORTS:
Congress halts assembly over Mohan Babu's security
Prime suspect in car bomb blast surrenders
23 killed as Mohan Babu survives car bomb attack

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