A day after two abandoned steel boxes at the parking lot of Shivamogga railway station triggered a bomb scare, the Karnataka Police Monday discovered that the boxes contained salt and some waste materials. The Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) of Karnataka police rushed to the city on Sunday over fears of a bomb being planted at the railway station. The suspicious containers were spotted by some auto drivers on Sunday afternoon, who informed the police. Shivamogga Superintendent of Police G K Mithun Kumar told reporters that the BDDS team reached the city Sunday evening and conducted tests to ascertain the presence of explosives inside the boxes. "After ensuring that there weren't any explosives, we took the boxes to custody. Some waste materials and table salt were found inside the containers. That is why the boxes were heavy," he said. According to CCTV footage, the boxes were kept at the spot on November 3 by two people after getting down from a vehicle, Kumar said, adding that investigation is on to trace the identity of the accused. Prima facie, those involved appear to be of criminal background, Kumar said. The operation to check the contents of the boxes on Sunday was disrupted due to heavy rainfall in the city. The police had cordoned off the area soon after the suspicious containers were detected.
