Patna: Police arrested five persons, including a mukhiya, and claimed to have foiled a conspiracy to blow up the ancient Sun temple at Kandaha in Saharsa district, around 200km northeast of Patna, on Thursday.
The Archaeological Survey of India had declared the temple, located 10km west of the district headquarters town, a protected site way back in 1987.
A big haul of explosives and bomb-making materials was seized from the five men.
Saharsa sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Prabhakar Tiwary said on Friday that a police team attached to the Sadar police station tried to intercept a sports utility vehicle (SUV) without a registration number. The driver of the vehicle, however, ignored the cops and sped away.
The police chased the vehicle, stopped it and overpowered its occupants. The police seized bomb-making materials, explosives and Rs 35,000 the vehicle. A breathalyser test conducted on them confirmed that two of the occupants were in drunken state.
Apart from different sections of IPC and Explosive Substances Act, a separate case under the Bihar Excise and Prohibition Act 2016 was lodged with the Sadar police station of the district.
The SDPO said the mukhiya of Pastvan panchayat, Rahul Raj, had hatched a conspiracy to hurl powerful bombs at the temple during Surya Mahotsav. The mukhiya, however, denied the charge.
The SDPO said forensic experts, who visited Saharsa on Thursday, from Patna confirmed that the explosives and other materials seized from the five persons would have killed people. Rahul Raj had been elected mukhiya for the first time, he added.
The station house officer (SHO) of Saharsa Sadar hospital, Rakesh Kumar, said the 27-year-old mukhiya and his four associates were produced in the local court, which remanded them in 14-day judicial custody. Earlier, senior police officers quizzed them at Sadar police station.
The criminal antecedents of Rahul Raj, who had been elected as panchayat chief for the first time, are being verified. "The police foiled a major incident after the five arrests," the SHO added.
