JOIN US Was an IED recovered from a high security DRDO facility in the national capital?
A slip of tongue put National Security Guards (NSG) chief R S Tayal in the soup on Tuesday when he said an IED was found at a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) facility and only his force could defuse it.
As it created a flutter, the NSG later clarified that an UXO (Un-exploded ordnance) was found near Metcalf Bhavan, a DRDO facility in north Delhi, some months ago and not an IED.
There was no terror angle to it. All started with a remark by Tayal during his speech in the presence of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh at the inauguration of the composite building complex of 52 Special Action Group of the NSG here.
"Two months ago, an IED was found in DRDO Bhawan and when no other agency could handle it, our unit defused it," Tayal said hailing his force as the "number one".
He did not share more details of the incident.
NSG officials later said what they recovered on April 14 was an old 120mm mortar shell of the "unexploded ordnance" category during the construction work undertaken by the Delhi Metro near the DRDO premises in Metcalf House in north Delhi. Two empty artillery shells were found that day.
Delhi Police's bomb disposal squads and others could not defuse it and it was then that the NSG team was summoned.