The Vellore district police have asked the help of experts from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) in Bengaluru.
A man on campus at a private engineering college in Vellore on Sunday was reportedly killed on Sunday by an explosion that is being described as a meteorite. Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa also described the object as a meteorite and announced a solatium of Rs one lakh to the family of the person killed and Rs 25,000 each to the three injured persons from the Chief Minister's Public Relief Fund.
"A mishap occurred yesterday when a meteorite fell in the campus of a private engineering college in Vellore district's K Pantharappalli village...," she said in a release here. "I have ordered the Vellore district administration and hospital officials to provide them best treatment," she said.
According to The New Indian Express, an irregular-shaped object found on the college campus was examined by a team led by an expert from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The object is barely 2 cm in width and weighs about 50 grams. The explosion broke window panes of the college buses, several glass planes of the building were damaged and it also created a small crater near the building complex.
The daily reports that in order to validate this theory, the Vellore district police have asked the help of experts from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) in Bengaluru. "We have requested experts from IIA, to come to Vellore to examine the object and identify whether it is a meteorite. They have agreed to come here on Monday,” Superintendent of Police (SP) of Vellore P K Senthil Kumari told the daily.
The object is reportedly brownish-black in colour and has air bubbles on its rigid surface.The four-member team from ISRO along with the police found it behind the college canteen on Saturday at 4 pm, adds the report. The private engineering college is around 85 km from Vellore at Natrampalli. The report adds that a similar object was found at Bethaveppampattu, about 18-20 kms from here on January 26. This was also suspected to be a meteorite but no one was injured.
(With PTI inputs)
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