Hyderabad, December 01: The ‘recovery’ of explosive material near the Osmania University campus at a time when the Telangana Rashtra Samithi-sponsored bandh turned violent, created a scare on Monday. The material later turned out to be fire-crackers.
A few hours after the OU students went on a rampage near the Tarnaka crossroads, police found a gunny bag placed on a row of stones beside a chopped off tree on the roadside near the National Institute for Nutrition (NIN), just a few feet away from Tarnaka. Police claimed that they were tipped off by some passers-by who spotted the bag.
Police, on verification, found 20 ‘bombs’ inside the bag. The bomb disposal squad was rushed to the spot who defused the bombs by removing the gun powder out of the cricket ball sized clay pots. “It seems gun powder and some other chemical was filled in the bombs. They can cause a minor explosion if detonated,” a police official said.
Initially, police thought that they were brought by miscreants who wanted to create trouble during the TRS-sponsored bandh. “It may also be an act of the students who indulged in violence. They might have planned to use them on petrol pumps,” the official said.
By Monday evening, City Police Commissioner B Prasada Rao clarified that the 20 cricket ball sized items were “cracker material used for the Diwali festival”. The Osmania University police, however, registered a case under Section 3 and 5 of Explosives Substances Act.
–Agencies–