Bangalore: A young police sub-inspector with a brilliant academic record was arrested today (November 3) on charges of planting the much-publicised crude bombs at the Legislators' Home (LH).

City Police Commissioner S Mariswamy told reporters that 26-year-old Girish Loknath Mattannavar, hailing from Dharwad district, was taken into custody. The police had recovered two crude bombs on Saturday (Nov 1) and one explosive device on Sunday (Nov 2) from the LH, adjacent to Vidhana Soudha, the State Secretariat.

The accused, an M.Sc in Genetic Engineering from Karnataka University, joined the service two years ago and was attached to Narona police station in Gulbarga district.

Mariswamy said Mattannavar was ranked as high as fifth in exams to secure his job. He said the accused was "misguided" and "so opposed to corruption that he wanted to bring about a revolution" for a corruption-free society. "He (the accused) took it upon himself and wanted to see that the world is devoid of corruption," he said.

He said Mattannavar's sole intention was to attract publicity to his cause and not cause any damage.

PTI