Explosives smuggled from Jaipur caught in Karauli, 5 held

JAIPUR: Even though the police were on high alert in Jaipur on Friday in the wake of the Babri Masjid demolition day, nearly 1,500 kg of explosives were smuggled from the heart of the city to Karauli district allegedly for illegal mining. A gang of smugglers hired a pick-up jeep from Sodala area and transported ammonium nitrate and other devices used in blasting at illegal mines to Karauli's Hindaun where they fell into the police net at a check-post.
Among those arrested included a father-son duo who were driving the jeep hired for smuggling. The two belonging to the city's Hasanpura area accidently fell into the police net and were booked under Explosives Act.
The fact that such a huge cache of explosives was smuggled from the city has put the police on back foot. A Karauli police team will soon come to Jaipur to investigate the matter further. The police, however, said prima facie it seems the explosives were smuggled from Maharashtra via Jaipur.
According to the police, the five accused were identified as Ramesh Mahajan (50), Madan Mohan (40), Guddu alias Harkesh (32), Mohammed Qureshi (50) and Chand Mohammed Qureshi (20). While Ramesh, Madan Mohan and Harkesh belong to Karauli district, Mohammed Quresh and his son Chand Mohammed are residents of Hasanpura's NBC area in Jaipur.
"The main accused is Ramesh. We are further investigating the role of Mohammed Qureshi and his son, but prima facie it seems that the two who own a pick-jeep were hired by Ramesh to transport 50 sacks of ammonium nitrate, 13 bundles of fuse wire, 49 detonators and some other items. Ramesh met the duo at Hasanpura and asked them to transport the sacks to Karauli's Masalpur area for Rs 5,000. Ramesh was to meet other two accused Madan and Harkesh at Kheri Mod," said a police officer.
The officer said that at 6.30 pm on Friday, the Hindaun Sadar police got a tip-off that a jeep was carrying explosives. "We are already on high alert, so we checked the jeep at Kheri Mod, recovered these items and arrested the five accused," said the officer.
The officer added that all the five accused were produced in a court. Though the police demanded a seven-day custody, the court granted only one day's custody.
"Prima facie, we suspect that the gang was delivering the explosives to miners. However, further investigation is going on. A team will be rushed to Jaipur to ascertain from where Ramesh got the explosives in Jaipur," said the officer.