Siliguri, April 8: Police found 2.5kg of explosives wrapped in a plastic sheet in a house after the landlord reported that his tenants had been missing since April 3, the day of the Champasari explosions.

Several documents and a diary were also recovered from retired power department employee Kanchha Majhi’s house in Mallaguri, 200 metres from the office of the district intelligence branch and a stone’s throw from the Pradhannagar police station.

Majhi has identified Dipen alias Akash Rai, from a picture shown by the police, as the person to whom he had rented out a portion of the house on March 25.

Dipen, who lived there with a “friend”, Tsheiring, is one of the main accused in the blasts.

The suspected bomb-maker had escaped alive when two improvised explosive devices went off at a house in Champasari on Thursday. Three of his accomplices were killed.

Appeals from the law enforcers to landlords to report details of their tenants prompted the Majhis to approach the Pradhannagar police station this morning.

Majhi’s daughters Geeta and Leela run an eatery in front of their house.

“Akash and Tsheiring came for lunch at our eatery last month. They said they were looking for a house to rent for a short stay,” said Leela. “We gave them two of our rooms for Rs 1,000 a month.”

Both Akash and Tsheiring were frequently visited by a third youth, who is yet to be identified.

“They told us that they were from Rhenok in South Sikkim and that they were here to learn driving,” Majhi said.

Around 1pm today, police and intelligence officials cordoned off the house as a CID bomb squad broke into the locked rooms and recovered the explosives.

“We found 2.5kg of explosives, a few documents, a diary and a bag,” said Siliguri additional superintendent of police Rajesh Yadav.

The officer did not reveal the nature of the explosives or details about the documents.

“We are going to verify it with all the agencies concerned and only after that can we confirm whether it is RDX or ammonium nitrate,” Yadav said. No timer device was found, he added.