MUMBAI: Contrary to earlier reports that crude devices were used in Friday's blasts in Malegaon, Rajvardhan, District Superintendent of Police (Nashik Rural), on Monday said the bombs were made of a deadly mixture of RDX, ammonium nitrate and petroleum.

He told The Hindu on phone from Malegaon that the State Forensic Sciences Laboratory in Nashik identified the explosive mixture and its compounds. This is one of the three laboratories to which debris from the bomb sites were sent for chemical analysis.

Rukmani Krishnamurthy, Director of the Forensic Sciences Laboratory (FSL) here, confirmed the findings. Talking to The Hindu , she said the chemical examination was done in her presence in the Nashik laboratory, a sub-unit of the Mumbai FSL.

Standard practice

Mr. Rajvardhan said it was a standard police practice to send samples to three laboratories. The findings of the other two laboratories were not likely to be different.

The police released a sketch of a third person suspected to have been involved in the Malegaon blasts. It is based on the description given by people who saw him loitering near the mosque and the graveyard before Friday prayers.

Mr. Rajvardhan said the investigators received good response after two sketches were released on Sunday and that led to some positive developments. But he refused to elaborate. The police had questioned a number of persons but none was detained. A number of temples and mosques in Malegaon were searched, and the people working there questioned.

Meanwhile, Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind chief Maulana Arshad Madani demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the blasts. Speaking in Malegaon, he said the people had no confidence in the local police.

Bomb defused

A bomb was found outside Lifeline Hospital, Nashik's main hospital, on Monday, NDTV reported. The bomb disposal squad defused the bomb, which had a remote control device, the news channel said.

New hospital soon

UNI reports:

Facing flak for non-fulfilment of its promise of establishing a full-fledged hospital in Malegaon, the Maharashtra Government on Monday sanctioned the proposal, and said the foundation stone would be laid within a month.

Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said the Malegaon Municipal Corporation would make available 9-10 acres of land on an emergency basis. The total expenditure for the state-of-the-art hospital would be around Rs.17 crore.

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