Woman among two arrested for possessing gelatine sticks, detonators

Nagpur, Dec 24 (UNI) Nagpur police have arrested two people, including a woman, and seized 62 gelatine sticks and 21 detonators from the latter's house here late last night.

The woman, Aruna Jivatu Salame (55), was arrested as she could not provide a satisfactory explanation about the presence of the explosives in her house, seized in a raid carried out after a tip-off, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Suresh Mekala told newspersons here this evening.

The police arrested Piru Khan alias Gaffar Khan, a resident of Seoni in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, today after Salame claimed that it was he who had given her the explosives two days ago, Dr Mekala said. Salame also claimed that she knew Khan through a common acquaintance, the DCP said.

However, Khan claimed that Salame had been buying such material regularly from him for the past two years, Dr Mekala said.

Khan, during his interrogation, said he works as a watchman in a stone quarry near Nagpur, and the woman too was employed in the same quarry. The police are now verifying the claims of the duo.

The gelatine sticks had been manufactured by the Nagpur-based Solar Explosives Limited, which has a factory in Kondhali, about 60 kilometres from here, Dr Mekala said.

The police will question the owner and two employees of the mine where Khan claims to be working, as well as officials of Solar Explosives.

Dr Mekala said Nagpur police would inform their counterparts in Seoni about Khan's arrest and seek information about his antecedents.

Similarly, the Department of Explosives and the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) had been informed of the recovery, he said.

Meanwhile, a local court has remanded Salame to police custody for two days, while Khan would be produced before a magistrate tomorrow, the DCP said.

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