Bhubaneswar, June 18: Panic gripped SBI colony in Soubhagya Nagar today after seven detonators and a letter written in red ink were recovered from a house in the area.

The house belongs to Shatrughna Rout, a retired government employee. The letter, which was lying at the gate of the house, has triggered fears of Maoist involvement in the incident. It threatened to kill Rout and his wife, both in their 60s. Police, however, ruled out the Maoists’ involvement.

“The letter does not mention the name of any Maoist. The criminals have deliberately tried to give it a Maoist angle to intimidate the family,” said Jagannath Pradhan, assistant commissioner of police, Bhubaneswar.

Police at the house in Soubhagya Nagar. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

The police said the detonators, which were found at the spot, were of the kind used in stone quarries for blasting rocks. They were easily available in the market.

Rout said that while four detonators were found hanging on the gate of the house, three were lying inside. “I was getting ready for my morning walk when my wife came running and told me that three curiously looking objects were lying on our house premises and a letter was lying near the gate,” said Rout, who has been staying in the house for the past 10 years.

Soon, the police were informed. “I asked them not to touch the detonators. The police came and seized the detonators,” said Deepak Singh, president of the SBI employees’ House Building Co-operative Society Limited.

Rout told the police that this could be the fallout of a land dispute, which began a month ago. In his police complaint, Rout had mentioned the names of two persons who were involved in the dispute. Rout’s son, Ashok, alleged that some mafia elements were trying to grab part of the land on which the house stands.

“They have been threatening us and had once even demolished part of our boundary wall. About a fortnight ago, 15 to 20 goons had come to our house and threatened us with dire consequences if we did not vacate the portion they wanted to grab. On June 3, we lodged a complaint at Khandagiri police station about the incident,” said Ashok.

The letter, too, warned the family members of dire consequences if they did not vacate the land the goons wanted. They also warned the family against informing the police.

A complaint about today’s incident has been lodged with Khandagiri police and an investigation has been initiated. “We suspect it as a work of the land mafia,” said a senior police official of Khandagiri police station.