Investigations into an alleged improvised explosive device (IED) blast at a partially occupied, under-construction apartment building in Bengaluru’s Pulakeshinagar on October 20 have pointed to a possible motive of personal vengeance targeting a security guard, police sources said.

The blast seriously injured Suraj Kumar, 28, a painter from Uttar Pradesh, who lost two fingers and suffered facial injuries after attempting to switch on a torch-like device found inside a parcel. The security guard, Alauddin Barbhaij, 53, who had received the parcel a day earlier, sustained a minor injury near his eye.

“The fact that the caller was in possession of the security guard’s phone number and that he insisted on the opening of the parcel suggests a personal angle to the conspiracy to cause the blast,” a police source familiar with the investigation said.

Unidentified caller

Investigators said Barbhaij, who had been working at the building for only 20 days, received the parcel from an unidentified person on October…