Bomb disposal squad points to detonator-like device at Chitrakoot blast site

According to a senior police officer, the BDS team from Prayagraj found an apparent ignition plate linked to an electric firing system, wires of different colours and remnants of a burnt electronic device. He said police were waiting for the forensic report to establish the nature of the explosive and determine whether RDX, HMX or another compound was involved.

A bomb disposal squad (BDS) has found indications of a possible detonator-like or electrically triggered device at the site of the September 12 blast in Chitrakoot’s Pahari area, prompting investigators to examine how the explosive reached the spot and whether it was being prepared for a specific purpose, officials familiar with the probe said.

The blast occurred at an empty plot owned by local politician Jagdish Prasad Gautam along the Karwi-Pahari road near Asoh village, and was reportedly heard nearly three kilometres away. (File)

According to a senior police officer, the BDS team from Prayagraj found an apparent ignition plate linked to an electric firing system, wires of different colours and remnants of a burnt electronic device. He said police were waiting for the forensic report to establish the nature of the explosive and determine whether RDX, HMX or another compound was involved.

“At the same time, an electronic surveillance team is analysing mobile tower data from an area covering around two kilometres around the site. As many as 234 mobile numbers were active there around the suspected time of the blast, and their locations and contact patterns are being examined to identify people who may have been present,” he said.

“The phones of the shepherd who first photographed a severed human leg found near the site and field caretaker Shyam Sunder Yadav have also been examined,” he added.

The incident, however, came to light after Gautam received information on September 14 that something resembling a lightning strike had fallen in his field. The following day, he received a photograph showing what appeared to be a human leg and informed the police.

Subsequent searches by police, forensic teams and the BDS led to the recovery of two severed legs and a bone fragment from Gautam’s field and a neighbouring agricultural field around 150 metres away. Additional bone fragments were later recovered. The identity of the deceased has not yet been established.

An FIR was registered at Pahari police station on September 15 under sections 3 and 5 of the Explosives Act against an unidentified person. Based on the preliminary evidence, police had suspected the blast may have occurred while the deceased was allegedly collecting, preparing or handling illegal explosive material. The FIR does not conclusively establish the circumstances of the death. Chitrakoot SP Arun Kumar Singh said the exact nature of the explosive would be established after the forensic report. Pahari police station in-charge Nishikant Rai is investigating the case.

Investigators are now focusing on the source of the explosive, the identity of the deceased and whether anyone else was involved. They are also examining whether the plot was being used to store or prepare an explosive device, or whether a particular person or location was being targeted. Preliminary information has been shared with the National Investigation Agency (NIA), though there is currently no forensic confirmation of a terror link.