New Delhi, May 23: One person was killed and over 20 injured, some seriously, after blasts rocked two cinema halls in the capital screening the controversial Sunny Deol starrer ''Jo Bole So Nihal.''
Delhi police have sounded a 'red alert,' sealing the capital's borders and deploying additional police forces at ''sensitive'' places, while cinema owners have decided to suspend screening of the film.
The first blast occurred at 2030 hrs, last evening inside Liberty cinema hall while the second occurred in a toilet of Satyam cinema hall, creating a crater on the floor.
''One person was killed while the condition of one of the injured is critical,'' Delhi Chief Secretary S Regunathan said.
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who also visited the hospitals where the injured have been taken as well as the blast sites, has demanded a high level inquiry into the incident.
She assured that her government would assist all the injured, admitted to the Ram Manohar Lohia and Lady Hardinge Hospitals.
Union Minister of State for home Sriprakash Jaisawal, who also visited the sites, deplored the act, which ''targeted innocent people.''
In a swift reaction, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak committee condemned the blasts calling them an attempt to disparage Sikh image.
''These are dastardly, inhuman acts. We condemn them strongly,'' SGPC general secretary Sukhdev Singh Bhaur told reporters.
Meanwhile, a report from Mumbai said in view of the blasts here, security has been beefed up in the city's cinema halls screening the film while some cinema owners have decided to suspend its screening from today.
Jo Bole So Nihal became controversial because of its title, a Sikh cry, which protestors said was in conflict with its hero Sunny Deol's appearance and action in the movie.
The film shows Sunny Deol playing a Sikh character chanting ''Bole So Nihal'' chased by scantily clad women.
Bureau Report
