DNA report reveals Petlawad blast accused was killed

The DNA sample of one of the victims in the Petlawad mine blasts matched that of the family of Rajendra Kaswa, Jhabua police said on Monday.

The report has prompted police to conclude that Kaswa, main accused in the blasts who had been missing since the incident, was indeed killed.

 “The DNA of the key accused matched with the samples of the family members,” Jhabua Additional Superintendent of Police Seema Alwa told Deccan Herald. “Soon, we are going to submit the report.”

Jhabua police had collected and sent DNA samples of 25 more unidentified victims of the blast to ascertain whether the prime accused Rajendra Kaswa, missing since the blast, was dead. Samples from the bodies of 25 victims were sent to crime branch Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Sagar district, Alwa, head of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted to probe the blasts, said.

On September 12, 89 people were killed and nearly 100 injured after mining explosives stashed in a shop went off and ripped through a densely populated market place in Petlawad town in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh.

Kaswa was booked under Section 304 (manslaughter) of the Indian Penal Code and other sections of the Explosive Substance Act. A number of raids at the premises of Kaswa’s relatives failed to provide any clues to his whereabouts, prompting the Madhya Pradesh government to announce a reward of Rs 1 lakh on the missing accused.