TURA: The discovery of a large explosive device on the roadside, outside Tura MP Agatha K Sangma’s residence at Walbakgre on Tuesday morning caused a stir as police had to rush in the bomb disposal squad.
The large device was later identified to be a fire cracker that had been left behind by someone.
Bomb squad personnel sealed the area, 20 meters outside the main gate of the MP’s residence, and later moved the device in the bomb disposal container for a timed safe explosion but the large cracker did not explode having been exposed to the elements of the weather.
“The device was noticed around 10 AM near a JCB machine parked about 20 meters from the main gate of the MP’s residence. The guards on duty near the gate were alerted and we immediately rushed our bomb disposal unit,” informed West Garo Hills superintendent of police MGR Kumar.
He said that a thorough inspection of the device by the bomb squad suggested it to be mainly a fire cracker which may have been abandoned by someone. An attempt by the squad to trigger an explosion at a secured location also failed.
A huge number of fire crackers lit up the night sky on May 23rd following the victory of NPP’s Agatha Sangma against Congress candidate Mukul Sangma in the Lok Sabha elections from Tura. It is believed that the device may have formed part of the consignment brought for the celebrations of the results but abandoned after it failed to light up.
Meanwhile, Tura police are taking no chances and security has been beefed up in and around Agatha Sangma’s residence.
