Names appear in gelatin case

TT, Siliguri, Nov. 8: Senior police and intelligence officers today said they had got names of some people who had planned to buy some of the gelatin sticks and other items that were stored by the three persons who were arrested from here on Saturday.

"During interrogation, the arrested persons revealed some information about the buyers, some of whom are Nepali nationals. They also told us that people living in the hills used to buy explosives from them for construction works or to catch fish. Our investigators are verifying the information," an officer said.

A team of Siliguri metropolitan police had seized over 600 gelatin sticks, around 200 detonators and over 600m of wire used to trigger explosions on Saturday night.

"If required, we will take help of other agencies to obtain more details about such buyers. The idea is to know why some people wanted to buy the stuff," the officer added.

"We are also trying to find out from whom they (the three arrested men) had got the explosives. There are illegal traders of explosives who supply such stuff to terrorist outfits. Whether they had got these items from such a trader and whether they have supplied it to any such outfit - knowing these are also part of the probe," he added.

A police team from Siliguri and experts went to Dudhia, 25km from here, today and burnt the gelatin sticks and other items that had been seized.