Drying bombs with heater,Swami blew up own ashram: Police

None was injured in the blast,which ripped through a part of the building in which the bombs were placed,even damaging the iron-sheeted gate 20 metres away. Mitranand,absconding since the night of the blast,was arrested last Wednesday from Mahendragarh district’s Jainpur village.

Ahead of the Allahabad High Court verdict on Ayodhya — it was to be delivered on September 24 but was later deferred — brought the bombs back from a long sojourn. “Mitranand stored the bombs in a ten-feet-deep hole that was a well. He used to take them out at regular intervals to check whether they were usable,” said Yadav.

The area population is predominantly Muslim. The ashram,built by the Arya Samaj,had come up after the temple that stood in the site was torn down by a mob post-Babri. “He feared that the ashram would be attacked post-verdict,and so took the bombs out. But they were damp. He tried drying them under an electric bulb,but that did not help. He then put them under a room-heater,” said Yadav.

The bombs went off at 9.30 pm near the kitchen. “Mitranand was in the kitchen,and some students were studying in the verandah. It had started raining by then,so he took the students along and went to the adjacent building,where a cultural programme was on. Soon after,the bombs went off,” said Yashwant Singh,teacher in a neighbouring government school,who stays on rent at the ashram. Singh was not at the ashram at the time of the blast.

The ashram also runs a gurukul and gaushala. “We had about 60 students from all over the country. But after the blast,more than half have gone back,” said Kamal,a teacher.

The forensic report into the chemical composition of the bombs is awaited. “We also found empty bullet shells from the blast site. Mitranand was filling locally-produced gunpowder in them,” said Yadav.

Police have recovered a rifle from Mitranand’s office. Mewat’s Superintendent of Police Yoginder Singh Nehra said the Swami had a valid licence for the weapon.

DSP Yadav said the police had to track Mitranand. “It was a bad time,as tension was running high before the verdict. Inmates of the ashram insisted that Mitranand had gone missing a day before the bombs went off,and without reason. That led us to suspect him,” he said,adding that none other than Mitranand knew about the existence of the bombs.

Mitranand has been remanded to police custody for six days. He has been charged under Indian Penal Code Sections 147,148 (both related to rioting),285 (negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter),436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house,etc),153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot) and Section 345 of the Explosives Act.