Dharamshala: A live grenade found on the hill side of the Jalandhar – Pathankot highway near Bhadroa Chowk in Himachal close to the Punjab border, on Saturday had to be deactivated after requisitioning services of the Army Bomb Disposal Squad.
Kangra police superintendent Dr Khushal Sharma informed the media that the ‘suspicious object’ was noticed by Ravinder Singh, an employee of National Highway Authority. He over phone passed information to Police Station Dumtal about a suspicious metallic object visible in the debris that had become exposed due to rain in the area.
On being informed about a suspected ‘ammunition’ like object, the district police superintendent sent a high level team to inspect the spot and requisitioned the bomb disposal squad of the army who deactivated the grenade.
Dr Sharma said,”according to the Army Bomb Disposal Squad report, the said grenade was LIVE HE 94 and the grenade has GREN-ARGES NO. 005 8-94 MADE IN PAKISTAN labelled on it.”
The police officer added that it appeared to be an old grenade. “The grenade must have been hidden long back here which got exposed when debris from the hill side spilled onto the road because heavy rain in the area,” said Dr Sharma.
The Dumtal police station Dumtal has registered a case number 126/22 dated 05.08.22 under Section 03 Explosive Substances Act 1908 and the further investigation of the case is to be conducted by a Special Investigation Team.
Arvind Sharma is an award winning bi-lingual journalist with more than 20 years of experience.
He has worked with Divya Himachal, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhasker, Vir Partap, Ajit and PTI.
In 2010, he was conferred the Himachal Kesri journalism award. He reports on the Tibetan Government in Exile, politics, sports, tourism and other topics. He lives in Dharamshala.