Senior BJP leader L.K. Advani escaped a bid on his life as a high-intensity indigenous explosive was defused under a stream-bridge on his route near Tirumangalam barely a couple of hours before he resumed his Janchetna Yatra
from here and headed for Kerala on Friday. The incident forced him to change his route while the police registered a case of “attempt to murder” against “unknown persons”.
A senior police officer said two four-foot-long PVC pipes packed with about 10 kg of explosive were found under a causeway across a stream at Alampatti, about 30 km south of here. A local called M. Selvaraj, 49, who had gone to the riverbed to answer nature’s call in the morning, chanced upon a long wire concealed amidst bushes.
Suspicious, he alerted the local panchayat union ward member who informed the police.
The bomb squad rushed to the spot and found a 100-metre-long green wire laid out from a palm tree to the pipe bombs under the causeway.
The wire was covered by grass and pieces of saris and cloth, and was connected to a 12-volt Exide battery kept under the tree. “The pipes were packed with an explosive known as Power Gel 90, which is mainly used in stone quarrying”, the officer said, adding, “The amount of explosive was quite large, enough to blow up the entire causeway”.
While the bomb was recovered at around 8 am, the BJP leader, who has the highest Z-plus category security cover, was scheduled to leave Madurai at 10 am for Srivilliputhur via Tirumangalam. Soon after the incident came to light, his yatra route was changed. His convoy reached Srivilliputhur, via Virudhunagar and Sivakasi, where he addressed a public meeting.
The special investigation team (SIT) of state crime branch CID has taken up investigation, which officials said “is still at a preliminary stage”. “We are keeping our mind wide open”, a senior intelligence officer told DC, adding that the possibility of Muslim fundamentalists being involved was being seriously looked into.
He said the explosive substance was commonly used by stone-quarry contractors and the incident “only reiterated the need to closely monitor them for diverting stocks to subversive elements”.