Two persons were arrested with explosives and other items from the posh Shankar Nagar area on Monday morning, Inspector General of Police (Raipur) GP Singh said.
The IGP claimed that the arrested persons were found to be couriers for Maoist insurgents. The angle of courier link to insurgents in the Shankar Nagar area, where most of the Cabinet Ministers and politicians reside, has triggered panic.
Additional Superintendent of Police (City) Dr lal Umed Singh Pal told The Pioneer that the accused were nabbed near the narrow gauge railway line. “The Civil lines police around 6 to 7 am got a precise tip-off that two men were moving in a white Mahindra Bolero with explosives. Acting on the tip-off, the Civil lines police cordoned off the Mahindra Bolero near narrow gauge Railway line and arrested the duo.”
Singh said that the arrested accused were identified as Babulal Sharma (52) and Tarak Kundu (42), both hailing from bus stand Bande village, Pakhanjur Kanker district.later, police informed that 32 pieces of detonators, oxygen cylinder, cooking gas cylinder, copper wires, 10 dynamites, small nut bolts, battery,torches, DVD, CD along with some documents was seized from their possession. The origin of these explosives is under investigation, they said.
“Initial investigations have revealed that one of them was destined to reach Bastar, while the other would stay put in Raipur,” the ASP said.Detailing history of Babulal Sharma, the APS said that his name had surfaced in the rocket launcher raw material consignment seizure at Saraswati Nagar last year. However, due to lack of compelling evidence, Sharma managed to remain out of the reach of police. The ASP claimed that it was Babulal Sharma who was entrusted with the responsibility to move consignment from Raipur to Bastar. Notably on August 17 this month, 36 detonators were seized from a scrap yard dealer in Khamtari. The yard owner was arrested in the case.