Raipur, Mar 6 (IANS): Around 80 boxes packed with raw material for making rocket launchers and mortars, suspected to be meant for use by Maoists, were recovered from a warehouse in a busy part of the Chhattisgarh capital, police said Monday.
Following the seizure Sunday night, the police have put several people under the scanner for operating a well-established network for the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist).
A joint team of three states - Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal - were stunned Sunday night when they raided a godown of Pal Goods Transport in Raipur and seized 79 boxes that were packed with raw materials for making rocket launchers and mortars.
"The raid was carried out based on the vital information we got from a few senior Maoists held outside the state recently. When we were informed by West Bengal police that Maoists had a supply route of rocket launchers and mortars materials to the restive Bastar region from Kolkata via Raipur, I didn't believe it at first. But the information proved to be a hundred percent correct when we stormed into the Pal Goods Transport godown Sunday night," a senior officer here at police headquarters, told IANS.
Senior Superintendent of Police (Raipur), Dipanshu Kabra, said: "There is no doubt that the seized material was meant for the Maoists. It is surprising that such hardware equipment for rocket launchers and mortars was kept stored in a busy area of Raipur's, Amanaka."
He refused to give details about any arrests being made, saying: "Several people based at several locations and several states are under the scanner. Since the investigation is at a crucial stage, we can't share much with the media. But in a few days, we will come out with details."
"The material was for making deadly weapons by Maoists such as rocket launchers and mortars, the recovery of such materials was possible only because of better co-ordination among neighbouring states," Ramniwas, state's additional director general of police (Maoist operation), told reporters late Monday evening.
He termed the seizure "a major success for Chhattisgarh police", and said that seized materials would be forensically examined.