A day after 10 men of the District Reserve Guards (DRG) and a driver were blown to pieces in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada’s Aranpur, investigators have found a tunnel at the spot with traces of explosives.
The police believe that the tunnel was packed with explosives and a wire was used to trigger the IED from inside the jungle. “It is a fox hole like tunnel right below the spot where the vehicle was blown off. The digging was done in a way so as to not disturb the black top of the road,” an officer part of the investigation told news18.
He further said this could have been done to avoid being detected by the Road Opening Parties, which are sent to sanitise the road before a convoy moves.
The police have found the soil dug out of the tunnel, dumped a little distance away near a pond in the forest. “The precision with which the tunnel was dug, the soil dumped away…this looks like a job done over 7-8 days with the clear intention of avoiding any kind of detection,” a source said.
Metres of wire have also been found at the spot, confirming the suspicion that the alleged Naxals were sitting in the forest, away from the road, to detonate the IED.
The NSG National Bomb Data Centre and central forensic teams are analysing the evidence on ground but sources said the preliminary assessment suggests about 50 kg of high grade explosives could have been used in the blast.
Traces of nitrate have been found on ground. Police suspect this to be ammonium nitrate mixed compound used for coal mining in the area.
Naxals are known to loot mining companies in the area.
A video of the incident reportedly shot by the driver of one of the vehicles in the convoy captures gun fire moments after the vehicle carrying 10 DRG men was blown off. The impact of the blast left the rifles that the DRG was carrying, twisted and mangled.
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