200kg explosive material missing in Maoist-hit MP dist

About two quintal ammonium nitrate - a widely used industrial explosive mixture – has gone missing mysteriously from a truck in Singrauli, one of Madhya Pradesh’s Maoist-hit districts that borders Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh.

About two quintal ammonium nitrate - a widely used industrial explosive mixture – has gone missing mysteriously from a truck in Singrauli, one of Madhya Pradesh’s Maoist-hit districts that borders Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh.

Explosives such as ammonium nitrate are used by coal mining companies to remove the top soil below which the mineral is found.(HT file photo)

Police on Monday said the incident took place in March but came into light when Northern Coalfields Limited management wrote a letter to them about the disappearance of the chemical.

A case was registered on June 23.

They said the truck, laden with about 1.7 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, was heading towards coal fields of Northern Coalfields Limited in Singrauli from Dewas when four bags of the chemical went missing.

In 2012, a truck laden with about 30 tonnes of ammonium nitrate went missing while it was heading towards Singrauli from Indore.

According to the Bargawan police station, truck driver Rahul Kumar Meena informed them that the bags went missing somewhere between Sidhi and Singrauli.

Suryakant Sharma, additional superintendent of police, said: “The police are leaving no stones unturned to find the missing ammonium nitrate. Keeping in mind the seriousness of the case, the police will again interrogate the driver. Though it may be possible that the bags might have fallen on the ground due to the bad condition of the road.... Police will also investigate other angles.”