Jamshedpur, Dec. 7: A blast was averted near a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp at Badeda under Nimdih police station area of Seraikela-Kharsawan district this morning, following timely detection of a can bomb by jawans.

The bomb, which was kept in a steel container, was reportedly planted by CPI(Maoist) rebels late at night. Two companies of paramilitary forces were present in the camp. “The improvised explosive device was kept in a steel can and planted near the CRPF camp at Badeda. There was no doubt that the rebels wanted to blow up the CRPF camp,” Seraikela-Kharsawan superintendent of police Abhishek said.

At 9am today, a sentry on guard noticed a person moving suspiciously just outside the camp. “When the sentry, a CRPF jawan, asked the stranger to halt, the latter fled. The sentry immediately rushed to the spot where the man was sighted. There, he stumbled upon a steel container with wires peeping out from two holes on the lid,” said a senior police officer.

A bomb disposal squad from Ranchi rushed to Nimdih to defuse the bomb. Police said a week ago, the police had recovered a similar bomb from a metalled road at Karampada in Saranda under West Singhbhum district. Intelligence department sources had said the rebels would try to trigger landmine explosions during the fourth phase of elections, especially in Singhbhum-Kolhan region.

In another incident in Latehar district, two can bombs were recovered by patrolling police and CRPF personnel from near a high school at Keru in Balumath. Latehar SP Kuldip Dwivedi said a bomb disposal squad defused the explosives.