Punjab: Experts from Army reach spot of live bombshell recovery

Chandigarh: A day after a live explosive was found a few hundred metres from the helipad used by Punjab and Haryana chief ministers here, the Indian Army's bomb disposal experts reached the spot on Tuesday morning.

The Army's experts and officers of the bomb disposal squad examined the live shell in protective gear inside a police cordon. A fire tender and an ambulance were stationed at the spot in the morning.

The area where the bomb was discovered lies in Chandigarh, close to the Chandigarh-Punjab border.

The bomb was found in a mango garden on the Nayagaon-Kansal T-point, which is about a kilometre away from the helipad and about two kilometres from the official residences of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar.

The police questioned several people, including many scrap dealers in nearby areas, for clues on how the bomb could have reached the mango garden where it was found on Monday, sources said.

As soon as the police received information that a bomb-like object had been found in the high-security area, they reached the spot and cordoned off the area.

The local administration later informed the Army.

Sanjeev Kohli, nodal officer, disaster management, Chandigarh, had earlier said, "When we came and checked it we found that it was a live shell. We have secured the area." "It is a matter of investigation how this shell got here," he added.

"With the help of police and the bomb disposal squad team, the shell has been placed in a drum and covered with sandbags and the Army has been informed," he had said, adding, "Army officials will come and take care of it." The possibility of a scrap dealer dumping it here cannot be ruled out, he had said.

In the past, there have been cases of scrap dealers collecting used shells from the vicinity of military firing ranges.

Punjab Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) AK Pandey, who reached the spot on Monday, had said that it appeared to be a "misfired shell".

There are many scrap dealers in the area where the shell was found. It is being investigated if anyone could have discarded it here, he said.