Panic struck Guwahati on Friday afternoon as the police claimed that they recovered a bag with 8-10kg improvised explosive device (IED) from the Guwahati railway station premises.
The panic situation was defused only by the evening when Guwahati police commissioner Hiren Nath clarified that the suspected device which was found in Guwahati Railway station was just an agricultural device and not an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) as announced by some police officials on live television news.
Addressing the press, Nath said that the agricultural device was being ferried from Maharashtra and was supposed to be sent to Mizoram via Silchar.
The suspected bag was recovered from a handcart behind the Railway Police Force office, Paltan Bazar.
The Government Railway Police (GRP) immediately informed the bomb squad of Assam Police, who took the bag to a deserted location, to check the materials inside.
Before formal investigation, police officials informed the media that the “IED was put inside a parcel and was planted outside the station in a pushcart”. Railway authorities said that the parcel was supposed to be ferried to Silchar in a train which was scheduled to leave the Guwahati station on Friday afternoon.
“It weighs around 8-10 kilogram. We will take it out of the crowded place and will dispose in an isolated place. I can say the railway station had a narrow escape,” said a senior police officer.
(The story was edited to incorporate the clarification)
