Scare after 'gelatin sticks' tied in wire found on Shalimar Express

The handwritten note found with the sticks; (left) the 'gelatin sticks'

After finding messages on the pillar of a flyover in Uran on Tuesday, firecrackers with electric wires and batteries accompanied by a letter were found in the coach of the Shalimar Express on Wednesday morning. According to the police, the handwritten letter reads 'let's teach the BJP government a lesson'.

After a preliminary inquiry, the investigation has been handed over to Tilak Nagar police station. Initially, agencies were baffled as they were told that gelatin sticks had been found, but after through checks it was revealed that the sticks were hollow firecracker tubes.

On Wednesday, around 11am, when the Shalimar Express was taken to the yard, two cleaners spotted a bag inside a coach. When they opened the bag they found five rolled up sticks of paper attached to each other by electric wires. A box battery cell was also found inside the bag. The cleaner immediately alerted the Railway Protection Force (RPF), who summoned the Bomb Detection and Defusal Squad (BDDS).

"BDDS, the local police and Railway police conducted a thorough search of the object and found that they were firecracker cases (pipe shaped) around 5-6 inches long, with two small wires around 7-8 inches, and a small defused battery," said DCP (PRO) Manjunath Shinge. "There was no explosive found during the checking by the BDDS team" he added. After the checks, investigations were handed over to Tilak Nagar police station.

The handwritten note in the bag stated, "Aapko yeh parcel sirf unko confuse karne ko lagana hai. Is BJP Sarkar ko hame batana hai ke hum kya kar sakte hai." The message speaks of four people from Madhya Pradesh. "We have taken the incident seriously and are probing all angles now," an officer privy to the investigation said.

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