The news telecast on Wednesday evening of an arrest by the London police revived the memories of a 25-year-old bomb blast survivor in Surat. Jigna Pansurya was only eight-year-old when the 1993 Surat bomb blasts took place,but she carries with her the marks for ever – the 75 odd splinters that left her sparred,and snatched away her childhood friend,Alpa Malani,the lone casualty of that blast.

London police arrested Hanif Patel,alias Hanif Tiger,originally a Surat resident who is believed to have masterminded the 1993 blasts in Surat from Ashley Street in Halliwell. The news prompted Jigna to say,“The legal process to convict Hanif Patel will be lengthy. I only request that all those responsible for the blast be hanged to death and other absconders too should be arrested at the earliest.’’

Jigna and Alpa lived in the same neighbourhood and went to the same school. January 28,1993 is a date Jigna cannot forget. She and other students of Sadhna School were walking to their residences in the Varachha neighbourhood.

“We were near the Chamunda restaurant near the Mini Bazaar,and around 11.20 am somebody threw a bomb from an auto rickshaw. We were singing songs then. Alpa was a bit ahead of me,” remembers Jigna who went on to do a postgraduate course in commerce and seeks a job in a private bank.

“The doctors removed some 76 splinters from my body. The injury marks are still there. When I asked about Alpa,my parents told me she had died. She had severe injuries in her stomach and face,” said Jigna.

“The blast snatched away my close friend. We went to school together,sat on the same bench,shared our tiffin,played together and even did our homework together. The pain is unbearable,” said Jigna. The arrest has brought back all the painful memories for her.

Jigna’s father Babu Pansurya,a diamond trader,says that Alpa’s father was also in the same business. “Two years after Alpa’s death in bomb blast,her family shifted to Mumbai. Bhanu had three daughters and Alpa was the youngest. The shocked father decided to shift to Mumbai.”

Police sources said the first breakthrough in the case came when the crime branch arrested auto-rickshaw driver Natvar Vasawa,a native of Bharuch,who disclosed that his vehicle was hired from the railway station area. Later,the other accused were arrested.