Policemen guard the site of the Opera House explosion. (Reuters)

Mumbai, July 13: Hundreds of diamond traders and residents of the area around Opera House flock to Khau Galli, or Nashta Galli as Gujaratis call it, for an evening bite of spicy chaat, sandwiches and business gossip in the evenings. This evening, the food hub turned a death trap.

It was packed as usual with people when an explosion rocked Khau Galli around 6.55pm.

According to police, the explosive device planted at Opera House was of a higher intensity than the ones placed in Zaveri Bazaar and Dadar.

The explosion took place in a narrow lane between Shreeji Chambers and Flox Building, both complexes housing offices of diamond traders and brokers.

Eyewitnesses could not say exactly where the bomb had been placed on the street but investigators were exploring two possibilities: a garbage bin and an umbrella.

Mumbai police commissioner Arup Patnaik said preliminary investigations showed the bomb was placed in an umbrella. “Compared to Zaveri Bazaar and Dadar, a higher level of explosive was used in the IED at Opera House. The impact of the explosion was much higher than the other two blasts,” Patnaik said while on a visit to the site in the evening.

Eyewitnesses recalled how they lifted the injured, many without limbs, and rushed them to hospitals. “First, there was a loud bang as if a building had collapsed. The whole area was filled with soot and black smoke. A car was burning, glass shards were lying all around a heap of bodies,” said Tushar Shah, a diamond trader who was also headed for a bite when the blast occurred.

A victim outside the Opera House. (PTI)

Shah said Opera House, the diamond hub of Mumbai, worked from 10am to 8.30pm generating business worth crores. Several decades ago, operas used to be staged in the area. Later, the venue became a movie hall called Opera House which was closed down in the 1990s.

“Before we leave for the day, most of us usually climb down from our offices for snacks, chai and conversation. It is not a place where strangers can really loiter around and plant a bomb. Everybody here knows everybody,” Shah said.

Shah went to Saifee Hospital where he learnt that his friend Asghar Dharolia had died. “Asghar must have been just 28, and lived in Mohammed Ali Road. He was married barely two months ago. He was a small trader like me. He was the sole breadwinner of his family.”

Trader Naeem Patel said both the Shreeji and Flox buildings had CCTV cameras at the entrances.

Although the big traders have moved to the Bharat Diamond Bourse in the Bandra-Kurla Complex, the city’s new financial nerve-centre several kilometres away, Opera House continues to be a hub for small traders and trades connected with diamonds.