Explosives found in UP assembly, CM smells terror

ADITYANATH TERMS THE INCIDENT A MAJOR SECURITY LAPSE AND ORDERS A PROBE BY THE NIA

LUCKNOW: High potential explosive was found inside the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly on Wednesday, chief minister Yogi Adityanath informed the House on Friday.

The forensic tests on Thursday confirmed it to be PETN (Pentaerythritol tetranitrate).

Terming terror threat to the assembly, chief minister ordered probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

While around 150 gram of the powder was found, the chief minister said 500 gram of PETN was enough to blow up the entire Vidhan Sabha. The explosive powder kept in a plastic bag was found near the seat of the leader of the opposition, Ram Govind Chaudhary during the checking by assembly staff.

LUCKNOW: A high-potential explosive was found inside the UP legislative assembly on Wednesday, CM Yogi Adityanath informed the House on Friday.

Forensic tests on Thursday confirmed the explosive to be PETN (Pentaerythritol tetranitrate). Calling it a terror threat to the assembly, the chief minister ordered a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

While around 150 gram of the powder was found, Adityanath said 500 gram PETN was enough to blow up the Vidhan Sabha.

The explosive powder kept in a plastic bag was found near the seat of leader of opposition, Ram Govind Chaudhary, during checking by assembly staff.

The chief minister said the recovery put a question mark on the security of the assembly. Expressing surprise over the fact that even sniffer dogs could not detect the explosive, the CM said security of the assembly will be strengthened.

“The identity of each and every person coming to the assembly will be verified,” he said.

Adityanath also met governor Ram Naik and briefed him about the developments, sources said.

However, an official communique from Raj Bhavan called the chief minister’s visit a courtesy call. Speaker Hriday Narayan Dikshit said Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) will be deployed for security. “Whole body and bag scanners will be installed and ATS team will probe the terror act,” he said.

Meanwhile, police arrested a man named Farhan Ahmed in Rampur Karhana area of Deoria, who had called up the ADG, Lucknow zone office, and threatened to blow up the House on August 15. “We are grilling the youth,” said police.