Hardly have the people overcome Wednesday’s shock of a terror strike being averted in the holy city now hosting the Ardh Kumbh with the arrest of four suspected terrorists, an unclaimed bag was found by police lying near the vendor’s cart at Haridwar railway station on Thursday morning, sending alarm bells ringing again. The Dog Squad was sent. Bomb Disposal Squad reached the spot too. However, water bottle and some clothes were found in it, to the relief of all.
High alert was sounded in the morning around 11 am when senior superintendent of police office got information that an unclaimed bag (red and blue striped) was found lying on the road opposite railway station gate no. 2 near a vendor’s cart. led by IG, the bomb disposal squad and police teams reached the spot. The station area was evacuated and sealed by the local police.
Speaking to The Pioneer, IG Ganesh Singh Martolia said, “On receiving the information from SSP office, our team along with BDS reached the site where the sniffer dog gave signal of some explosive items kept in the bag. With all precautions, our teams took the bag to a safe place and covering it from all sides by sandbags, we used our charger to diffuse the articles. However, no explosive was found. Still, leaving nothing to chance, we have sent the cloths and the water bottles to laboratory for testing.”
The whole area was sealed off during the operation and the roads were opened for the traffic after the operation was over.