Four days after the Naxals killed a village sarpanch in the Gondia district, C-60 commandoes along with the local police found 16.5 kilograms of ammonium nitrate stuffed in two steel boxes, in a tunnel below a road. The police said that a major attack has been averted with the seizure of the explosive substance and that the bombs that would have blown up a vehicle the size of a bus.
In March this year, 13 CRPF jawans were killed after the Naxals blew up the bus they were travelling in Gadchiroli.
“We were patrolling the area on foot accompanied by two parties of C-60 commandoes, when on the road near Damditola village we spotted a ditch. We grew suspicious and started digging it. We then saw a black electric wire that led us to two steel boxes that were hidden below the road,” said assistant inspector S.R. Narnavre from Chinchgad police station.
Mr Narnavre said that by that time they had informed the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS). “They found 16.5 kilograms of sulphur based ammonium nitrate explosives stuffed in the two steel boxes. They were attached with two detonators each. They were readymade bombs and all the Naxals had to do is just to detonate it with a battery from a distance,” he added.
According to Mr Narnavre, a Mahakal bus (government bus) also plies on the road ferrying villagers.
“However, we suspect the Naxals were targeting the police. They must have expected big police vehicles to pass through the road after Istari village sarpanch’s killing, as we had intensified our operations in the region. The bombs if detonated were capable of blowing up big vehicles the size of a bus,” he said.
Damditola village is located near the Istari village where Sarpnach Ghanshyam Koretti was murdered last week. Mr Narnavre said that the area was very sensitive and Naxal violence had been reported in the region in the past too.
The explosives have now been sent for forensic analysis, while the police are investigating whether more such bombs have been hidden below the roads by the Naxals.