Bhagalpur blast: Suspected materials found in other houses

BEGUSARAI: The SIT led by SSP Babu Ram investigating the Bhagalpur blast case recovered large quantity of suspected explosives from a number of houses situated in close proximity to the house where the massive explosion had taken place on the Thursday night.
At least 14 persons were killed in the blast inside an illegal firecrackers' unit in the Kajwalichak area. Three other houses were reduced to rubble in the explosion.
Though the SSP could not be contacted despite several attempts made, police sources said the recovered materials are suspected to be high-grade explosives.
According to police sources, the SIT members first entered a house situated about half a kilometre from the blast site following intelligence inputs and recovered explosives kept in a pressure cooker. A large quantity of materials suspected to be explosives were also recovered from half a dozen houses. Many of the houses remained locked from inside and the police had to enter by using a ladder. Police sources said the nature and kind of the seized materials could only be revealed after their forensic examination.
The recovery of suspected explosives from a pressure cooker gave rise to speculations that a similar kind of device must have accidentally gone off on Thursday night resulting in a massive explosion. Police sources also said such a device is used by the Maoists for violence. The explosives that caused the Thursday blast were learnt to have been smuggled from Malda in West Bengal.
Bhagalpur DM Subrat Kumar Sen and the SSP Babu Ram have been insisting that only the forensic report would determine the cause of Thursday blast.