Sabarimala: About 360 kg of gunpowder, suspected to have been abandoned after being brought for a ritual fireworks display which has been recently banned, was on Saturday seized from a forest near the famed Lord Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala.
The explosive material, kept in 12 containers (each weighing over 30 kg), was found at Sabari Peetam in the Sabarimala-Pampa forest route, just three km away from the hillock shrine, police said.
The seizure was made during a joint combing operation by police and forest personnel and bomb detection squad held as part of a three-day special security arrangement ahead of the anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition on December 6, they said.
Thousands of Ayyappa pilgrims are converging every day as part of the ongoing two-month-long annual festival season at the hill shrine that will conclude mid-January.
"The explosive material has been kept at a special place maintained by Travancore Devaswom Board near the Sannidhanam (main shrine). The Chief Controller of Explosives is expected to arrive here tomorrow and examine the material," a police official said.
The material, assumed to be gunpowder, was suspected to have been brought for the 'vedi vazhipadu', a ritual fireworks display, held annually at Sabari Peetam as part of the Vishu festival at the shrine.
"The ritual was recently banned by the Forest Department and the fireworks contractors have no license for that now. We suspect that they might have abandoned the explosives in view of the ban," the official said.
A case had been registered under Section 9(B)(1)(b) of the Explosives Act, the official added.
The explosive material, kept in 12 containers (each weighing over 30 kg), was found at Sabari Peetam in the Sabarimala-Pampa forest route, just three km away from the hillock shrine, police said.
The seizure was made during a joint combing operation by police and forest personnel and bomb detection squad held as part of a three-day special security arrangement ahead of the anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition on December 6, they said.
"The explosive material has been kept at a special place maintained by Travancore Devaswom Board near the Sannidhanam (main shrine). The Chief Controller of Explosives is expected to arrive here tomorrow and examine the material," a police official said.
Advertisement
"The ritual was recently banned by the Forest Department and the fireworks contractors have no license for that now. We suspect that they might have abandoned the explosives in view of the ban," the official said.
Advertisement
COMMENTS
Advertisement
India's Children Must Know Truth About Babri Masjid Demolition: A Owaisi On NCERT Row References To Babri Masjid, Gujarat Riots Dropped In NCERT School Textbooks Explained: From 1528 To 2024, A 500-Year Timeline Of Ayodhya Ram Temple Israeli Jets Strike Yemen Rebels After Deadly Attack On Tel Aviv Woman On Scooter With 2 Kids Punched, Left Bleeding In Pune Road Rage Case The 'Fake' CrowdStrike Worker Who Took Credit For Biggest-Ever IT Outage Flights Resume After Massive Microsoft Outage Disrupts Operations CrowdStrike Bug hit 8.5 Million Windows Devices, Says Microsoft Imran Khan Being Kept In Filthy Circumstances In Jail, Says His Wife: Report Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.