Bomb squad personnel check the explosive. A Telegraph picture

Siliguri, April 8: An explosive weighing 2.5kg and wrapped in plastic was recovered from a hideout of the Champasari blast suspects today after a retired power department employee reported that his tenants have been missing since April 3, the day of the twin explosions.

A few documents and a diary were also recovered from the house belonging to Kanchha Majhi in Mallaguri, located 200 metres from the office of the district intelligence branch and a stone’s throw from the Pradhannagar police station.

Majhi has also identified Dipen alias Akash Rai, from a picture shown by the police, as one to whom the house had been rented, along with his friend, Tsheiring, on March 25. Dipen is one of the main accused and an alleged bomb maker who had escaped alive when two IEDs went off at a house in Champasari on Thursday. Three of his accomplices were killed.

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

Majhi’s daughters, Geeta and Leela, run a small 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 on rent for a short stay,” said Leela. “We gave them two of our rooms for a monthly rent of Rs 1,000.” 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 the purpose of staying here, was to learn driving,” Majhi said.

Around 1pm today, police and intelligence officials cordoned off the house as the bomb squad of the CID, in the presence of Rajesh Yadav, the Siliguri additional superintendent of police, broke open the lock of the room and recovered the explosive.

“We found an explosive of 2.5kg, a few documents, a diary and a bag,” said Yadav. He, however, did not divulge much about the nature of the explosive wrapped in plastic, 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 was RDX or ammonium nitrate,” the police officer said. He added that no timer device had been found in the house.