Missing explosives: Couple held,remanded in custody

The Bhilwara police on Thursday night arrested a couple,Shivcharan and Deepa Heda,allegedly the prime suspects in the disappearance of close to 160 explosives-laden trucks between April and July this year.

The Bhilwara police on Thursday night arrested a couple,Shivcharan and Deepa Heda,allegedly the prime suspects in the disappearance of close to 160 explosives-laden trucks between April and July this year.

Bhilwara Superintendent of Police Umesh Dutta on Friday stated that cops from Bhilwara arrested the duo from Ahmedabad. The Hedas had been absconding for a fortnight after their properties in Bhilwara were seized. The duo owns the B M Traders company,which diverted the explosives, Dutta said,adding that other than the lucrative black-market explosives trade,the couple also had mining interests in Rajasthan and possibly in other states as well.

The explosives case was even raised in the Rajasthan Assembly on Tuesday after which Home Minister Shanti Dhariwal stated that it was a serious issue and therefore transferred it to the CID Crime Branch. The Bhilwara police also handed over custody of the Hedas to the state CID Crime Branch. On Friday,a Bhilwara court remanded the duo in police custody till September 9.

CID CB Additional Director General of Police ADG P K Vyas stated that the investigation was sensitive since they had to trace all the possible customers the Hedas and Aswani sold explosives to. Though they were interested in selling explosives to mining outfits,we have to check the antecedents of all their customers. The quantity of explosives is very large, Vyas added.

Dutta stated that the explosives racket primarily included the diversion of explosives meant for MP to Rajasthan. All the explosives were supplied from the Rajasthan Explosives Corporation Limited RECL in Dholpur whose records early in August showed that more than 160 explosives-laden trucks meant for Sagar and Chanderi in MP had never arrived,thus prompting an investigation by the MP police.

According to the police,the explosives that vanished en route to MP from RECL were being sold to mining outfits in Rajasthan. The accused did this to save on taxes. If they had bought explosives for sale in Rajasthan then it would have meant 14 per cent tax,but only 2 per cent tax for sale in MP, Dutta said,adding that the accused had duped the government of a lot of money in terms of tax.

The duo and one Harkishen Aswani from MP have been charged under the Explosives Act and various sections of the Indian Penal Code.