India News | Five Chargesheeted in West Bengal Explosives-detonators Recovery Case

New Delhi, Apr 26 (PTI) The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday filed a charge sheet against five persons in a case related to the seizure of a huge cache of explosives and electronic detonators in West Bengal in June last year, an official said.

Charges against one of the accused Manoj Kumar, who had allegedly committed suicide in November, have been abated in the charge sheet filed in a special NIA court in West Bengal, a spokesperson of the NIA said.

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The official said a Special Task Force (STF) team of West Bengal had initially registered a case on June 30, 2022 at Mohammad Bazar Police Station after the interception of a car lead to the seizure of 81,000 electric detonators and arrest of the driver Ashish Keora.

After the arrest of Keora, a series of searches was conducted at various locations, leading to the recovery of 2,525 electric detonators, 27,000 kg of ammonium nitrate and 1,625 kg of gelatin sticks from an illegal godown belonging to another accused Rintu Sk alias “Muntaj Ali”, the spokesperson said.

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Further, the official said, 410 detonators were seized from the house of accused Mukesh Singh, while 45.75 kg gelatin sticks and 1,200 electric detonators were recovered from the possession of accused Moktar Khan alias “Imran”.

After taking over the case on September 20 last year, the spokesperson said investigations revealed that all the accused had entered into a criminal conspiracy to supply explosive materials and detonators to persons involved in illegal mining.

While the charges for the offences committed by Manoj Kumar have been abated following his suicide, Keora, Rintu Sk, Singh and Khan have been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and Explosive Substances Act, the official said, adding further investigations are in progress against the remaining accused and others who may be involved in the illegal business.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)