The case of 61 truck-loads (carried by 22 trucks) of explosives that went missing after the stock had been lifted from Dholpur in Rajasthan has acquired serious dimensions from the security point of view: on Friday the Sagar district police in Madhya Pradesh found four empty trucks involved in transporting the explosives abandoned in Rajgarh district, near the state capital.
With the Commonwealth Games round the corner and also due to the security threat posed by the Naxalites, the disappearance of about 300 metric tonnes of explosives from Dholpur is being treated as a matter of serious concern in police circles here.
According to sources, the Union home ministry has taken serious note of the missing explosives and asked the state government to submit a report. The state home minister, Umashan-kar Gupta, said the main accused in this case belongs to Rajasthan. He also said that the licence used by him had been issued to a Sagar-based company. The licence had expired in the month of March this year, he added.
Inspector-general of police (Sagar range) Anvesh Mangalam told this newspaper on Saturday that four of the 22 trucks used for transporting the explosives from Dholpur have been found abandoned in Rajgarh district. The search is on for the drivers.
Police teams have also been sent to Rajasthan to collect information about the main accused and about the network of those who were getting explosives supplied through him. He said the explosives were lifted from Rajasthan Chemicals and Explosives at Dholpur on the basis of a licence issued in the name of a company located at Sagar.
Under the Explosive Substances Act, the seller and the buyer are both supposed to inform the district police and collector whenever there is any sale/purchase of explosives.
After it was noticed that a large volume of explosives had reached Sagar, the police launched a preliminary investigation and it was found that Ganesh Explosives, in whose name the licence had been obtained, had not lifted the stock in question and that the explosives had
not reached Sagar.