New Delhi, Oct. 5: Delhi police today detained nine more trucks heading for Bhushan Steel and Strips in Ghaziabad with scrap from the Tughlakabad Inland Container Depot in the capital.
Last week, 10 people were killed and scores injured when unexploded bombs went off while labourers were sifting through similar imported scrap taken to the factory from the depot.
Bomb detection squads of the army and the National Security Guards have so far recovered 48 live ammunition, including 81-mm mortars, grenades, anti-tank mines and anti-tank shells, from the first consignment loaded on 11 trucks and now stationed by the Hindon river in Ghaziabad.
The personnel have started work on the third truck after clearing the second one on Monday.
In addition to the nine trucks stopped today, Delhi police said four more containers were waiting at the depot with scrap for the factory.
The nine trucks were intercepted at Okhla in south Delhi and escorted to an isolated area, where explosive experts from the army and NSG were called in, said police sources.
The Uttar Pradesh government ? Ghaziabad falls in the state ? has decided to lodge a case against the chairman and managing director of the steel company for causing death by negligence.
A.K. Aggarwal, deputy director of the state industry department, said the criminal cases would be filed under Section 92 of the industrial act this week as initial inquiry into the explosion indicated that the management and the directors of the company were guilty of negligence.
The director and chairman of the steel company had also violated explosives rules, he claimed.
General manager V.S. Verma and assistant general manager Ompal Singh, who were detained on Friday, had said during interrogation that getting ammunition in imported scrap was routine and the company used to segregate them during offloading, the police sources said.
The Central Board of Excise and Customs yesterday suspended superintendent A.K. Pathania and inspector Ajay Jain, posted at the Tughlakabad depot, who were responsible for checking the containers.
The mystery over the origin of the scrap imported from Dubai deepened after agencies quoted army sources as saying explosives with Iraqi markings had been recovered. The country of origin of the consignment, much of it in rusty condition, was declared as Iran.
The finance ministry has directed the Indian embassy in the United Arab Emirates to verify the import details of the consignment.
Rocket haul
As Ghaziabad grappled with unexploded ordnance in scrap, 12 rocket shells were found today by the roadside in neighbouring Bulandshahr district.
?Twelve rockets were found this morning lying by the Khurja-Aligarh Road near Gawana police station,? said Bulandshahr senior superintendent of police R.P. Singh. He suspects they are anti-aircraft ammunition.
A villager spotted the abandoned shells and alerted the police. ?We are probing the matter and army officials in Meerut have been informed. Only after they come, things will become clear,? Singh said.
