Three held for planting ‘bomb-like devices’ in Madhya Pradesh, UP
India Today
Madhya Pradesh police have busted a gang of serial fake bomb planters and arrested three people, including an engineer and a lawyer in this regard.
Madhya Pradesh police claimed to have busted a gang that planted thirteen bombs near railway stations and bridges since last many years. Police have arrested three people, including an engineer and a lawyer in connection with the case. Reports of bombs placed in Madhya Pradesh's Rewa district for the past few weeks left cops in a tizzy.
Superintendent of police, Naveen Bhasin, said that the gang placed thirteen dummy bombs in trains and highways in the last six years, triggering panic in the area. He said that the gang planted many bomb-like devices in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, adding that for the past weeks the gang tried to disrupt peace in Rewa district by placing such devices.
A police team in Madhya Pradesh, led by SP Naveen Bhasin, nabbed the accused with the help of surveillance on highways, CCTV footage and inputs from the tollbooths. The accused were arrested in the region surrounding the Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh borders.
Police also recovered electronic circuits, mother boards, plastic pipes and mobiles and wires from the possession of the accused. Cops also recovered a letter that was found along with these bomb-like devices on Republic Day. An explosive with a timer was defused by the district police in Rewa on Republic Day. A letter that threatened Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was also found at the spot. Police have started the process of verifying the handwritten letter.
SP Bhasin, while addressing a press conference, said that the prime accused and the kingpin of the gang is a mechanical engineer, a native of Prayagraj. Bhasin said that the accused lost his job in 2015, following which he complained of epilepsy. The other accused in the case is an LLB graduate and the third one is from Meerut.
The initial investigation revealed that the accused wanted to talk about corruption and other evil social practices, thinking that resorting to such measures would help them to raise their voices against such issues.
According to police, the accused planted thirteen dummy bombs at various highways and railway stations, including the Mahanagri Express. They planted a bomb-like device for the first time on January 28, 2016 in Mahanagri Express, followed by another in February and March in Uttar Pradesh's Meja railway division. Another such device was found in March, 2017 on a Sangam Express train in Uttar Pradesh.
