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Journalism of Courage
Chennai, Dec 5: The explosive device, which was removed from a long distance train at Chennai Central on Monday, was set off in the early hours today at a police firing range in the suburbs.
Railways Inspector General of Police, G Thilakavathy told PTI that initially explosive experts tried to open the cylinder to ascertain the contents, but had to give up the attempt as the cylinder was tightly sealed.
Though it appeared to be a low intensity device, it could have caused severe damage in a train compartment, Thilakavathy said.
She said the remnants of the exploded device had been sent for analysis.
The device was found under the lower berth of a second class reserved sleeper compartment on the Jammu Tawi Express, which arrived at Chennai Central Railway station at 1.30 pm on Monday.
It was found wrapped in a Hindi daily and the Railway Protection Force personnel removed it to a police stadium in the night. From the stadium it was taken to the police firing range during the wee hours of this morning and was set off.
Later, Police said the case had been handed over to the Crime Branch-CID8217;s special investigation team.
Since the train had passed through several states before arriving here, the police headquarters in these states had also been informed about the incident, police said.
Police said the remanents of the explosive device, which was sent for analysis had provided some clues. However, they did not elaborate on the nature of the clues.
