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Explosives
linked to Communist Party of Bhutan (Marxist-Leninist- Maoist) Sikkim's hydro power projects become source of gelatin sticks |
"Bhudiman Bhujel is registered at the Khudhunabari camp in Jhapa district, eastern Nepal, while his accomplice, who escaped, Prakash Adhikari, is from Pathri camp in Morang district," said the M S Tuli, the Superintendent of Police in east Sikkim. "They had procured these sticks from a labourer called Santosh Rai, working at the Gatti Hydropower Project in Rhenrock, who gave them the gelatin on the instructions of another accomplice in Nepal."
Prakash Adhikari, who is believed to be the leader in the procurement of the explosives, also belongs to the Communist Party of Bhutan (Marxist-Leninist- Maoist). , say the Sikkimese police.
The two men had stayed at the home of a contractor at Rongi village. The labourer, Santosh Rai, and the contractor, also named Santosh Rai, are in custody. Three Gatti project officials were arrested for "misplacing explosives" and later released on bail.
Local police and intelligence officials are interrogating the suspects, who are being held under the Explosives Act and Foreigners Registration Act. Several items found on Bhujel linked him to an incident where a group of people from the camps were stopped by Indian police at the Meichi bridge when they tried to travel to Bhutan through Indian territory.
A senior official of the Indian Intelligence Bureau said that people from the refugee camps in Nepal had started working in the 10 hydropower projects in Sikkim. He said that this was the third or fourth instance of gelatin sticks being 'stolen' this year. He added that the two men had been trying to take the gelatin sticks out of Sikkim.
