Ranchi, Dec. 1: The hijack of a truck loaded with tonnes of ammonium nitrate — a chemical compound used in explosives — from NH-23 last night has set off alarm bells.

Though senior police officers have ruled out Naxalite role in the incident, local villagers stress that the hijack was orchestrated by the rebels. They said the truck driver and his helper were later rescued from the red zone in semi-conscious state.

Sources said the truck, carrying 24 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, was on its way to an explosives factory at Gomia in Bokaro district from a chemical factory in Chhattisgarh. Six men in a Sumo chased the truck from Petarwar and forced the driver to stop 8km from Gola police station in Ramgarh in the early hours.

While four of the men took control of the truck, two others grabbed driver Mohammed Muslim and helper Mohammed Mihnaz. Both were beaten up and dumped in separate places. While Mihnaz was found in a subconscious state at Katkamsandih, 75km from the place of hijack, in Hazaribagh, Muslim was rescued from Indra forest, about 10km from where the helper was abandoned.

Police said they did not suspect Naxalite hand. “This looks like the handiwork of some inter-state gang,” said officer in charge of Gola police station Pran Ranjan.

Ramgarh superintendent of police A.V. Honkar agreed. He said the chemical was in powdered form and was not itself an explosive, but an ingredient. “The compound is also used for producing fertilisers,” he said.

Local residents, however, refuse to buy the police version. “The places from where the driver and his helper were recovered dominated by Naxalites. The sub-zonal commander of CPI(Maoist), Krishna Yadav is active in the area,” said a resident of Hazaribagh.

Another resident added that in May a van carrying cash had been hijacked, but the police, initially, said rebels were not involved. “They admitted the same later when the charred remains of the van were found.”

Whether rebels or not, the matter of concern is the quantity of ammonium nitrate that is missing. Experts said 24 tonnes of the compound could be turned into bombs powerful enough to blow up the entire state capital. IG (provision) S.N. Pradhan said efforts are on to locate the truck..