Army personnel defuse suspected WWII-era bomb in Jharkhand's East Singhbhum

Jamshedpur: Personnel of the Indian Army and the police defused an active bomb, suspected to be from the World War II era, on Wednesday morning in Jharkhand's East Singhbhum district, a senior official said.

The 227-kg metallic object was found by villagers on the Swarnarekha river bed in Baharagora area on April 15.

The district police had sought the Indian Army's help to defuse it.

“The bomb was successfully defused today morning by the Army and the police's bomb disposal squad,” said Officer-in-Charge of Baharagora police station, Shankar Prasad Kushwaha.

No injury or damage was reported during the entire operation, he said.

SDPO (Ghatsila) Ajit Kumar Kujjur said as part of the operation, the Army personnel dug a trench on the river bed and placed the explosive in it, which was covered with sand bags before being detonated.

Army personnel and members of the bomb disposal squad from Ranchi had earlier inspected the spot.

On March 25, personnel of the Indian Army had defused two active bombs, also suspected to be from the World War II era, in East Singhbhum.

The explosives stuffed in metallic cylinder-shaped containers were defused within a gap of 30 minutes from one another, amid tight security arrangements, officials had said.

One of the bombs, weighing around 200 kg, was unearthed during sand excavation along the Panipada-Nagudsai stretch in Baharagora area, around 90 km from Jamshedpur, they said.

The second bomb of a similar shape was discovered in a villager's house during inspection of the spot.