Imphal, Sept. 18: A man drove an explosives-packed car inside the high-security Raj Bhavan today, parked it about 200 metres from the governor’s office-cum residence and left without being detected.

Police found the 25kg improvised explosive device (IED) about half-an-hour after the car was parked at the parking place. Governor Gurbachan Jagat was present in the Raj Bhavan at the time.

The bomb, stuffed inside the cushion of the car’s back seat, was enough to destroy several buildings and kill several people inside the sprawling Raj Bhavan.

Kangleipak Communist Party (Military Council) has claimed responsibility for planting of the car bomb. The group’s secretary (military affairs), Lanheiba Meitei, in a statement, charged Jagat with being the mastermind behind killing of “innocent people” by security forces in Manipur.

The statement alleged that fake encounter killings had been on the rise in the state after Jagat assumed charge in July last year.

Giving details of the incident, senior superintendent of police, Imphal West, L. Kailun said a man drove the car inside the Raj Bhavan and left it at the parking lot before going out of the governor’s house.

According to the visitor’s register maintained by the security personnel at the main entrance, the grey Maruti 800 (MN01W5048), entered the gate at 10.45am.

The driver told the security personnel that he was going to submit a memorandum of a local club to the governor. He entered his name as Th. Karen, son of Tomba of Wangkhei in Imphal East district.

It is not clear how the man got out of Raj Bhavan. Sources said another car followed the car bomb and the man left in the second car. No detailed information about the second car is available.

The IED is believed to have been made of gelatine. It had iron nails and bolts. Three hand grenades, several detonators and two mobile handsets were attached to it.

“We do not exactly know the mechanism of the explosive. But it appears that the plan was to explode the IED by calling on the mobile phones,” the SP said.

The police defused the bomb at the firing range of the Manipur Police Training School at Waiton hill, 12km from Raj Bhavan, in the afternoon. As the police and bomb experts were trying to retrieve the bomb, the Raj Bhavan was cordoned off by security personnel. The staff was not allowed to come out of their rooms. No one, including the staff, was allowed to enter Raj Bhavan before the IED was towed away.

This is the first time that militants have used a car bomb to target vital installations. The incident occurred despite the Raj Bhavan being in a state of high alert after the December 21 grenade attack by KCP (MC), Lalheiba group.

After the incident, the governor discussed Raj Bhavan’s security with director-general of police Yumnam Joykumar Singh.

Jagat is believed to have expressed unhappiness over the incident and directed the police chief to review security measures.