JOIN USHuge arms seizure from MP town
The materials seized from the house of Rajesh Patel, who is at large, include 14 packets of detonating cord, two packets of detonators and 10 packets of gelatine sticks.
Acting on a tip-off, the police also seized a car carrying 5,000 gelatine sticks in 50 cartons and 29 packets of detonating cord. Car driver Manoj Kaul was taken into custody.
“On a tip-off, we raided the house of Rajesh Patel and found a huge quantity of gelatine sticks, detonators and detonating cords. Explosives were also being transported in a car. The car has been seized,” K P Khar, Rewa Deputy Inspector General of Police said.
“We are interrogating Rajesh Patel’s landlord Aditya Pratap Singh,” Khare added.
The Centre has ruled out terror angle in the seizure of explosives, saying they were meant for “illegal mining” in the state. “The gelatin stick, detonator and chords recovered seem to be for the purpose of illegal mining. No terror angle involved,” Union Home Secretary R K Singh was quoted as saying.
Singh said MP police had received inputs that the man arrested was involved in illegal mining.
“I have spoken to the state DGP and the chief secretary and sought a detailed report. Two persons have been arrested,” he said.
The cartons found in the house of Rajesh Patel contained ammonium nitrate and detonators, it is learnt.
The seizure comes four days after an explosive-laden car was found in the parking area of Ambala Cantonment railway station in Haryana.
A joint police team of Delhi and Haryana on October 12 had found explosives in a Indica car parked outside the railway station.
A box of sweets was found lying in the car, which showed that it was purchased from Jammu's Bari Brahmna area besides two newspapers from Jammu and Kashmir.The car was bearing a fake Haryana registration number and the police suspect it was stolen.
Unlike the latest recovery that seemed to be harmless, the Central agencies on Thursday suggested involvement of Sikh terrorist outfits and Pakistan-based groups in carrying the 5-kg RDX in the abandoned car. The RDX was meant to be used for terror explosions in Delhi during Deepawali festivities.
The car with RDX was reportedly heading towards Delhi before it was abandoned for the fear of being trailed by the Delhi police.