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Bomb outside Chandigarh’s Model Jail defused by NSG team
Material and quantity used in the explosive to become clear with NSG team’s report, which is expected in 3-4 days, says Chandigarh SSP
Over 20 hours after a bomb was recovered outside the Model Jail in Sector 51, a team of the National Security Guard (NSG) safely defused it on Sunday afternoon.
A bag containing the explosive device, box, detonator and some burnt wires was found near the boundary wall of the jail around 7.40 pm on Saturday evening.
As it was defused around 4.15 pm on Sunday, a light blast was heard and smoke could be seen billowing out of the area later.
While a bomb disposal squad and army team remained alert at the scene through the night, the NSG team, which was despatched from Manesar in Haryana, reached the spot around 1 pm on Sunday.
The team brought a special remote-controlled robot to disarm the bomb, which, as a precautionary measure, was placed in a red container and further surrounded by sacks of sand. Wearing protective gear, the team first inspected the bomb with sniffer dogs and the robot, and took away the detonator, before defusing it.
Superintendent of police (SP, City) Ketan Bansal and assistant superintendent of police (ASP, South) Shruti Arora were also seen donning safety jackets and working closely with the NSG team, while personnel from the operations cell of the Chandigarh Police were also present.
Police had restricted the movement of people on the nearby roads and traffic was also diverted.
Police launch probe
“The NSG team defused the explosive device on Sunday and will send us a report about its details in the next three to four days. It is suspected to have been stuffed with RDX, but the exact details about the explosive’s chemical composition and quantity are not confirmed yet,” said Kuldeep Singh Chahal, senior superintendent of police (SSP), Chandigarh.
The SSP said police will now thoroughly probe the matter and go over the CCTV footage of the area to establish who placed the explosives there.
Meanwhile, police have registered a case under relevant sections of the Explosives Act at the Sector 49 police station.
Police are checking whether the bomb was going to be used for breaking someone out of the Model Jail, while the terrorism angle has also not been ruled out.
Many hardened criminals, including Babbar Khalsa International members Jagtar Singh Tara and Paramjit Singh Bheora, who were convicted for the assassination of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, are lodged in Model Jail.
Both of them, along with Jagtar Singh Hawara, who is now imprisoned in Delhi’s Tihar Jail, had escaped from the Chandigarh jail after digging a tunnel in 2004.
The jail authorities had reportedly recently asked that security be beefed up around the jail and checking be intensified.
UT adviser Dharam Pal said, “Further investigation is being carried out. Police are looking at CCTV footage and examining other aspects. It will take some time to conclude what exactly happened there.”
