The entire police machinery here was on its toes today when a phone call from the city's MSRTC Bus Station said that some containers resembling grenades were found abandoned in the station premises.
The call was received at about 6.45 am and police along with dog squad reached the spot and took possession three green bottle-shaped containers. Two were kept near the public toilet and the other was left near the juice centre in the bus-station. Initially, the police were clueless and anxious about the contents of the container that looked like some kind of explosive device, though they were small in size.
Later, superintendent of police, Chhering Dorje told reporters in the afternoon that he himself had reached the spot on learning the incident and requested for assistance from the officials of Ordnance Factory, Chanda for specific details of the items.
He stated that the officials of Ordnance Factory confirmed that these were nothing but empty fuses used in 81mm guns by the Indian Military Forces. It was also confirmed that these fuses were manufactured at Dum Dum, in West Bengal in this year only, he said. He said that there would not have been any mishap if they were mishandled, during the course of investigation. These fuses form a part of the shell/mortar of the 81mm guns, he added.
He ruled out the possibility of Naxals/Maoists using these 81mm guns having a range of 5 kms, as they are very heavy to carry. The 81mm shells/mortars are very heavy to carry and none of the terrorist outfits in the vicinity are known for using this kind of artilleries, so far, he said.
The question that haunts the police is that how come these fuses, meant exclusively for Ordnance Factories in the country went into the hands of outsiders, whether they were from the rejected/scrapped lot or stolen from any of the lots meant for the supply to any one of the 39 ordnance factories in the country.
Dorje said that further investigations into the incident are in progress and until then the department may not be able to pin point the exact cause and reason for the same, he added.
Comments