Raigad (The Hawk): Under a bridge near Pen town in Raigad, a suspicious device resembling a bomb was discovered and neutralised on Friday, sparking a fresh alarm in the coastal district of Maharashtra.
Thursday at approximately 6 p.m., authorities discovered a suspicious device including a dozen gelatin sticks and connected to a timer and electric circuit under a bridge on the River Bhogavati.
The Raigad Police requested the Bomb Detection & Disposal Squad (BDDS) from Navi Mumbai to investigate after the discovery alarmed locals.
Friday at 2 a.m., the BDDS crew conducted a thorough examination, relocated the device to a remote area, and neutralised it by removing the gelatin sticks from the electrical circuit.
Later, Superintendent of Police Somnath Gharge, who had raced to the scene with other high-ranking officers, certified that the object was neither explosive nor attached to a detonator.
As a precaution, the entire contraption will be sent for a forensic study, while police teams scour an area of more than one square kilometre to determine how it got there, who planted it there, and why.
(Inputs from Agencies)