Balloons bearing Pak flag found along with biscuit packets; MP, Rajasthan cops launch probe

Ratlam/Indore, Oct 1 (PTI) Recovery of balloons allegedly bearing the Pakistani flag along with biscuit packets at a shop in neighbouring Rajasthan, an episode with links to Madhya Pradesh, has prompted an inquiry by police of both states.

Police from both states questioned several traders at length on Wednesday to unravel the case of balloons allegedly bearing the Pakistani flag found along with biscuit packets at the shop in Rajasthan, officials said.

Additional Superintendent of Police, Ratlam district, Vivek Kumar, told reporters that police in Rajasthan's Jhalawar district had seized balloons stuck to biscuit packets from a shopkeeper's establishment.

The balloons allegedly had the Pakistani flag and "August 14" printed on them, he said.

Pakistan celebrates its Independence Day on August 14.

Kumar said during the investigation, the Rajasthan police discovered that the controversial material was supplied to the shopkeeper in Jhalawar by a wholesaler from Alot town in Ratlam district.

He said the Alot businessman told police during interrogation that he had purchased the controversial balloons from a seller in Indore.

Following this revelation, police from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are also investigating the matter in Indore.

Ravindra Parashar, in-charge of Indore's Central Kotwali police station, said, "The Indore seller said he recently ordered a consignment of balloons from Delhi, Mumbai, and Meerut, and he cannot immediately identify which city the controversial balloons with the Pakistani flag came from." Another police officer said a wholesale businessman from MP's Alot town purchases biscuits and balloons separately and then supplies them to Jhalawar district and other areas of Rajasthan after sticking the balloons on biscuit packets.

The businessman does this as part of a strategy because children in rural areas are attracted to buying biscuits because of the free balloons, he explained.

"In Jhalawar district, when a child inflated a balloon that he had received free with a packet of biscuits, he found the Pakistani flag and August 14 printed on it. This caused anger among local residents, who informed the local police," the official added. PTI COR HWP MAS RSY