Berhampur, Jan. 10: A tiffin bomb weighing around 10kg was found near a forester's residential quarters at Paniganda in Mohana block of Gajapati district today.

"I had deputed a bomb disposal squad to the spot. Combing operations in the area had also been intensified," said Satyajit Nayak, the Gajapati superintendent of police.

The bomb was recovered when the forest guard and some workers were cutting bushes on the forest beat house campus.

"They noticed a portion of an electric wire on the surface that was buried under the soil. When they dug more to get to the root of it, they found the tiffin bomb concealed in a tin container," said forest ranger Devi Prasad Sethi.

Sethi said the tin container had gathered rust, but it was connected to the wire. "I immediately informed the Adaba police station," he said.

The inspector in charge of Adaba police station, Anam Lakra, said: "A four-member bomb disposal squad has reached the spot in the afternoon."

The Gajapati SP, however, said he was not sure whether the bomb was planted recently or it had remained there since 2009. Maoists had set ablaze the then newly-built forest beat house at Paniganda on the night of July 9, 2009.

The beat house was damaged and three villagers sustained injuries in an explosion.