An object, suspected to be improvised explosive device (IED), was today recovered from a Silchar-bound parcel baggage in Guwahati railway station which was later destroyed by officials.
A Home Guard on duty at the Railway Mail Service (RMS) area behind platform number 1, heard something tick from the parcel baggage around 9.45 am and immediately informed the Government Railway Police, a GRP official told PTI.
The GRP then informed the local police who arrived at the spot with bomb disposal squad for removing the baggage to an isolated place and safely detonating it, the official said.
Several passengers were waiting at the station at the time as trains in and out of Assam were cancelled due to floods and damage to railway tracks in Bihar and West Bengal, he added.
Director General of Police, Mukesh Sahay said it was not immediately known if the parcel contained a bomb or if a militant outfit was behind it.
"We will have to first detect if it is a bomb. Only after that will the question of who is involved will come up", the DGP said.
Asked why there was no CCTV in the RMS area, Sahay said, "that only the Railway authority can comment on. It is good to have CCTV but nevertheless, a security personnel detected it".
The suspicious object was taken in a special truck to an open and deserted area on the outskirts of Guwahati where it was safely detonated, said a bomb disposal official.
The official suspected it to be a hand-made IED fitted with a programmable timer.
Without detailed investigations, he said, it could not be immediately ascertained if it was a bomb.
The parcel sorting officials at the RMS yard said that the baggage with several articles had a GPO seal marked for Silchar in south Assam's Barak Valley to be transported by a truck as railway services were suspended for the last 10 days due to floods.
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