Forensic examination of the box with explosives found along Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s convoy to the Art of Living Ashram on Kanakapura Road on May 10 has revealed that the two gelatin sticks were at least three years old and wouldn’t have caused any damage even if they had exploded.

The timer device found was also old and non-functional. There was no detonator, a key component for a bomb to explode, and the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) found in the box was unconnected. 

NIA not yet

It is not yet clear whether someone deliberately placed the box there or if it was a box of explosives meant for stone quarries that accidentally found their way to the streetside.

In this light, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which initially joined the probe, has decided not to take over the case yet. The NIA is waiting for the local police to crack the case, detain suspects, and would take over the case only if they find these suspects to have any terror background, sources said. 

Puzzling case

The case has left the investigators puzzled. They are still groping in the dark regarding who placed the box with the explosives along Prime Minister Modi’s convoy route and their motive, or whether it was a deliberate act at all. 

The initial suspicion was that it may not have been deliberate, and someone transporting explosives to be used in the numerous stone quarries around the area may have unintentionally dropped it by the roadside. Bengaluru South police, probing the case, have checked multiple queries not only in the district, but in the neighbouring Tamil Nadu as well, with no breakthrough in the case. While gelatin sticks are regularly used in quarry blasts, PCBs are not. Its presence in the box has raised red flags. 

Unassembled

“If someone had deliberately kept it to target the Prime Minister, why not assemble the bomb? While there were explosives, circuit boards, a timer, and so on, needed to rig an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), there was no detonator, a key component of any IED. Moreover, all parts were in the box, but unassembled, ruling out any sophisticated terror attack,” a senior official said. 

The police suspect that someone had kept the explosives as an attempt at scaremongering, and not with the intent to attack. “It could be some miscreants trying to create panic when the Prime Minister was visiting Bengaluru, but the explosives were found near the ashram, and not in the city. There are reports of conflict between the ashram and farmers in the area. We are probing that angle as well. Right now, the case is still open, and all angles are being pursued,” the official said.