3 held for planting IED at Kalamboli; wanted to scare builder

As per an initial interrogation, the police said the trio were not affiliated with any terrorist group

pranab.bhuyan@hindustantimes.com

Navi Mumbai Police’s bomb squad defused the bomb found at Kalamboli on Monday. (HT Photo)

The Navi Mumbai police arrested three persons on Wednesday for allegedly planting an improvised explosive device (IED) near the New Sudhagad School at Kalamboli on June 16.

The accused have been identified as Deepak Dandekar, 44 and Manish Bhagat, 45 from Ulwe and Sushil Sathe, 35, from Kondhawe-Dhawade in Pune.

As per an initial interrogation, the police said the trio were not affiliated with any terrorist group. They had planted the IED there to scare a builder who lived near the spot.

Sanjay Kumar, police commissioner of Navi Mumbai, said, “The accused were in need of money and had planned to extort ₹2 crore from the builder. Their plan was to scare the builder with the explosion and then demand cash. However, the timer on the device did not work properly and it did not explode.”

According to Kumar, Dandekar, who is in the quarry business in Navi Mumbai, was the mastermind and key accused in the case.

“He recently lost a case under the Negotiable Instruments Act and had to pay ₹25 lakh compensation to the court. Sathe, a real estate broker, is suffering from hemophilia and reportedly needs to take an injection every month which costs ₹12 lakh,” the police commissioner said.

They had decided to plant the device at the spot on June 16 as the crowd was expected to be less because of the India-Pakistan cricket match, the police said.

“A resident of Kemburde village informed us that he had seen a man wearing a blue shirt and a helmet, roaming around the area on a two-wheeler,” said Tushar Doshi, deputy commissioner of police (crime).

The accused were produced before a judicial court on Thursday and have been remanded in police custody till July 11.