Explosives laden Trucks missing

Sagar, MP, Aug 26: The state police initiated a thorough investigation into the missing of 163 trucks with 850 tonnes gun powder which were sent to gun powder godowns here and Chanderi in Ashoknagar district from Rajasthan Explosive and Chemical Limited (RECL) at Dholpur.

According to police sources, when the district police was investigating disappearance of 60 trucks which were sent from RECL, it was revealed that another gun powder-laden 103 trucks were also sent in between April and June this year to Sangam Explosives Limited Traders in Chanderi that did not reach to its destination also.

A local resident Dvenendra Singh Thakur and Rajgarh resident Jai Kishan Aswani brought 60 trucks gun powder in the name of Ganesh Agency here with fake license and later Aswani after severing ties with Thakur, allegedly sold the gun powder to his relative Shiv Charan Heda and others in Rajasthan.

During investigation it was also revealed that the gun powder from 60 trucks were also sold in Rajgarh, Rajasthan's Bhilwada and Maharashtra's Ahmednagar. A case was registered against Heda, his wife Deepa, Aswani, Thakur, Rajendra Choubey and Gopal Shakyawar and others under Explosive Act.

Superintendent of Police Vijay Suryavanshi reviewed the situation here last night and arrested Choubey and Shakyawar. He said that police were investigating the papers related to the trade and bank transactions of all the accused.

In fact, recovery of trucks on Saturday was seen as a major breakthrough into the incident of missing explosives. However, the fire on Sunday turned the documents into ashes. Most of them were destroyed either due to fire or damaged after water was used to extinguish the flames.

The fire also exposed a glaring lapse by police. Although they had conducted a raid, they failed to check the documents kept at the second floor of the office, where fire broke out on next day. The papers destroyed in the fire had details about the quantity of explosives purchased from RECL and the companies to whom it had to be delivered.

Circle officer, Sadar, Bhilwara, Ram Kumar Kaswa said he did not know the exact reason for the fire outbreak. The possibility of Heda's involvement in destroying the documents could not be ruled out, he said. However, Kaswa could not explain why the first and second floor of the premises were not checked on Saturday. "We gathered documents relevant to the case at ground floor on Saturday," he said.

Senior officials said they had called experts of Forensic Science Lab ( FSL) to collect more details about the incident. Earlier on August 14, Bhilwara police had sealed Heda's house-cum-office and his two godowns. They got court's permission for conducting a search on August 20.

Meanwhile, sources said two of the 16 vehicles, which were recovered on Saturday, bear same registration number. This confirms Heda's pre-planning in diverting the explosives in an illegal manner, they said.

Also, Heda had taken out all the information from his two computers, of which only monitors was found during the checking on Saturday.

Political analyst said," It clearly depicts the failure of our intelligence agencies. They usually create panic only on festival season about the non existent threats, It adds fuel for communal  divisive politics, in reality the intelligence report published widely in the media didn't serve good  for the  People of India".