BHOPAL: Three men from Uttar Pradesh (UP) including an engineer have been arrested on charges of placing fake bombs at 13 locations over the past six years in UP and Madhya Pradesh (MP), a senior police officer in MP’s Rewa district said on Friday.
The accused were arrested during an investigation in connection of placing a fake bomb on the underpass of the national highway in Rewa district on January 26, Rewa superintendent of police Navneet Bhasin said.
Bhasin said the police scanned CCTV videos near the underpass around the time the fake bomb was possibly planted. One of the cars they zeroed in was seen going from Rewa to Manpur in Prayagraj., and tracked it down. “Police detained the accused from UP and questioned them,” Bhasin said, adding that the suspects allegedly confessed to planting the fake bombs.
The accused have been identified as Prakash Somvanshi, 35 and Ram Teerath Harijan, 36, both residents of Prayagraj, an advocate Divesh Dubey, 26, a resident of Meerut. Police has also recovered an electronic circuit, mother board, paint tape, aluminum wire, electronic watch, pen, plastic pipe and mobile that was used to make a fake bomb.
Somvanshi, described by the police as the prime accused, is an engineer by training but has been unable to hold on to a job.
{{/usCountry}}Somvanshi, described by the police as the prime accused, is an engineer by training but has been unable to hold on to a job.
{{/usCountry}}The Madhya Pradesh Police said they still aren’t too sure of the motive behind the crimes.
In his interrogation, Somvanshi allegedly said he wanted to create a scare. It seems it gave him a sense of achievement when he saw the news about the bomb scare on TV and in the newspapers, and the fact that the police back home had been unable to catch him, said a police officer associated with the probe.
Earlier, a UP police officer said each time the suspects placed a fake bomb, they left behind letter written in broken English. In some, they had issued threats to railway officials and demanded money from them. However, in two of the letters found earlier in Naini and Minto Park, the suspects demanded money from a private company in Naini area.
Their last fake bomb in Rewa was the most high profile because the letter made references to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath.
Bhasin said they first planted a fake bomb on January 28, 2016, in Mahanagri Express. In March 2016, they planted two more fake bombs were planted in Meza, UP in February and March 2016. They have planted another bomb in March 2017 in Sangam Express. He placed nine bombs in January 2022 in Naini Prayagraj, Sirsa, Mirzapur, Meza over-bridge, Sohagi, Gangev, Manganwa and Mauganj in Rewa and Meza in UP.