Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

Explosive materials seized from house

Staff Reporter

Confiscated materials include 373 gelatine sticks

HUGE HAUL: A policeman counts the detonators recovered from the staircase of a house at Chowdaripet in Kanuru near Vijayawada on Sunday. - PHOTO: RAJU. V

VIJAYAWADA: The city police seized a huge quantity of explosive material from the house of a retired engineer at Chowdaripet in Kanuru in the early hours of Sunday. The seized material includes 373 gelatine sticks, 600 detonators and 100 fuse wires and estimated to weigh about 50 kg. A case was registered under the provisions of Explosives Substances Act. However, no arrest was made so far.

The house owner Kanagala Subba Rao is one of the witnesses in a case registered against a Sub-Inspector of police by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in 2003.

Anonymous call

According to the police, Anti-Goonda Squad (AGS) Sub-Inspector S.S.V. Nagaraju received a call on his mobile phone around 3.30 a.m. The caller told the SI that some explosive material was stacked in Mr. Subba Rao's house. The caller said that the police could easily identify the house, as a car and two motorcycles were parked in front of the house.

Calling from a telephone booth in Gandhinagar, the anonymous person also informed the same to Special Branch Inspector D.V. Nageswara Rao and Penamaluru SI P. Satyanandam on their mobile phones.

The AGS and Penamaluru police reached Mr. Subba Rao's house around 4 a.m. and woke him up. The police found a gunny bag, a medium size sealed carton and a plastic bag on the staircase. The gunny bag contained another carton, which was also sealed.

The police unsealed the cartons and found 187 gelatine sticks in one box and 186 in another one. The detonators and fuse wire were packed in the plastic bag. While 500 detonators were packed in five separate boxes, 100 detonators were attached to fuse sires.

Mr. Subba Rao told the police that he was not aware of the explosive materials. After retiring from the electricity department as assistant engineer, he set up an electrical shop on Mahatma Gandhi Road. "What I can do with the explosives? Even if I procured them, would I abandon them in an open place?" he counter posed to the police.

House owner framed

Mr. Subba Rao told reporters that he would have to depose in ACB special court in the city on March 7 in a graft case against P. Srinivas, who worked as Sub-Inspector in Penamaluru police station in 2003 and presently posted at Gudivada.

Mr. Subba Rao recalled that he had lodged a complaint with the ACB when the SI demanded bribe to provide a copy of the First Information Report (FIR) of a road accident case. "The police have been indulging in blackmail tactics to prevent me from deposing against the SI in the court. All this is part of their game plan," he told reporters.

Commissioner of Police Umesh Sharraf too echoed similar opinion. "It is clear that Mr. Subba Rao has been framed, as he is a witness in a case against a SI. How can we expect a layman to store explosives outside his house?" he asked.

Mr. Sharraf said that a departmental inquiry would be conducted into the incident. "We will take serious action against those who are involved in it," he said.

The police, incidentally, are yet to trace the anonymous caller. Questions such as how did the caller know about the presence of explosives in Mr. Subba Rao's house and the mobile numbers of all three police personnel he rang up remained unanswered.

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