Gelatin rod used in murder bid in Ujjain village

UJJAIN: Apparently impressed by the destructive power of gelatin rods being reported in local media after the Petlawad incident, unidentified people tried to use the explosives to allegedly kill sarpanch of village Surasa near here on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday.
The accused slipped a gelatin rod attached with burning safety fuse through a gap under the door of Sarpanch Ishwar Singh’s house in the night.But the gelatin rod did not explode.
Ishwar Singh, hearing the sounds of vehicles, woke up to check, but could not make out the stick-like object to be a gelatin rod slipped into his house to kill him.
It was on Thursday morning, when he re-examined the object, he got suspicious and informed the police.
The police rushed to the village on Agar Road, around 5km from Ujjain, and summoned the bomb detection and disposal squad (BDDS).
BDDS officials confirmed that the object was a 125gm gelatin rod attached to a detonator through a safety fuse. “The fuse did not ignite due to moisture on the floor and this averted explosion,” said BDDS in-charge Ramesh Akharia.
“Had the explosion occurred it could result in heavy losses even of life in 10-15 feet radius,” he said.
Ishwar Singh felt the move was handiwork of people against whom he had lodged complaint about illegal encroachment on government land.
Chimanganj police station in-charge O P Mishra said the matter is being investigated and the culprits would be behind the bars shortly.
Gelatin rods have been a topic of discussions among masses after Petlawad blasts that claimed over 100 lives in August.
Government has been zooming in on illegally stored gelatin rods in almost all districts of the state after the incident.
This is first time that the explosive was used in a murder bid.