Sonia and Ghulam Nabi Azad at Bhaderwah. (PTI)

Srinagar, Feb. 23: Jammu and Kashmir police today said the CRPF may have faked the “recovery” of a cache of explosives ahead of Sonia Gandhi’s visit yesterday.

A spokesperson said Doda SSP Manohar Singh would carry out an investigation to put an end to such “practices”.

The CRPF said it had seized 4kg RDX, grenades and detonators from a hideout in Chenoot, Bhaderwah, 1km from the spot where the Congress chief and Union home minister Shivraj Patil met families that bore the brunt of the recent avalanches.

However, 113 Battalion commandant B.S. Dara, who had said yesterday he personally led the operation, could not be reached for comment today.

The police said they first heard about Thursday night’s “suspicious” seizure from the media. But when the CRPF was asked about it, the force “showed ignorance till 4.30pm on February 22”.

A spokesperson said there was no “official intimation” to Bhaderwah police station, 250km from Srinagar. “After 4.30pm, a letter was received from a local unit of the paramilitary force claiming recovery of explosives from a house,” he said.

“The unexplained delay makes the claim highly suspicious. Apparently, no such recovery was made.” He also said there was a huge deployment of police and other forces in Bhaderwah. “So there was no possibility of the presence of militants or explosives. The visit (of Sonia and Patil) went off peacefully.”

Security sources said forces often made “claims” of foiling attacks during high-profile visits and many of them were later found to be false or exaggerated. The Doda SSP said the probe he was heading was aimed at “preventing such practices”.

In 2000, the army and the police had claimed they had killed five foreign militants responsible for the massacre of 35 Sikhs at Chattisinghpora. But an inquiry proved the five were innocent civilians.

Last year, the police blew the lid off an encounter racket in which civilians were killed by forces and passed off as militants for rewards.