Rourkela: In a significant development in the investigation into loot of explosives by suspected Maoists, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Rourkela police on Tuesday arrested the owner of the Badgaon-based warehouse.
This followed raids on explosive warehouses in the mineral-rich and bordering police districts of Sundargarh, Rourkela and Keonjhar.
According to sources, Shraban Agarwal was detained at Raghunathpali police station in Rourkela and later arrested following multiple interrogations by the SIT. His Badgaon warehouse was sealed last week after the May 27 incident, which raised alarms about explosive security and potential misuse.
The truck driver, whose vehicle was intercepted and looted by suspected Maoists, has also been detained for questioning.
According to police, three explosives-laden trucks left the warehouse on May 27. While Maoists allegedly looted one, Agrawal misled authorities by claiming the other two trucks were delivered to clients. However, police on Sunday found two explosives-laden trucks parked suspiciously near a fuel station at Balughat in RN Pali here. About 116 packets of gelatine sticks, 416 detonators and 750 metre of charging electric wires were recovered from the two trucks, fuelling suspicions of a broader illegal trade.
Investigators suspect the two trucks were hidden intentionally, possibly for selling explosives to stone quarries and mining operations at a premium.
Preliminary findings indicate Agrawal’s involvement in illegal supply of explosives to stone quarries and mines for monetary gain. Further investigation is underway to ascertain if four tonnes of explosives were actually looted by the Maoists as claimed by him and the truck driver.
Meanwhile, security forces on Monday recovered another 2.5 tonnes of explosives. This came three days after around 30 per cent of stolen materials were seized from a Maoist hideout in a forest near Koida in Sundargarh district on the Odisha-Jharkhand border during a search operation. The explosives were found buried underground.
On May 27, suspected armed Maoists hijacked the explosives-laden truck from a place close to Banko stone quarry. They took the truck into the forest and fled with the explosive packets, which included mostly gelatine sticks and detonators used in stone blasting. The site of the loot was adjacent to Saranda forest, a Maoist den in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand.