Darj cops write to DEA on seized ‘radioactive material’
Times of India | 30 November 2024
12 Siliguri: Darjeeling district police have written to the department of atomic energy (DAE) to eliminate any possibility that the radioactive material seized from a Naxalbari forest guard on Wednesday could be real. NDRF had earlier found it to be fake.
Francis Ekka, who had been arrested in Panighatta with inputs from Army intelligence, is in police custody. Apart from passwords and formulae for preparing radioactive material, some copied documents from the DRDO lab and stamps were found on the accused.
Darjeeling SP Praween Prakash told TOI: "Nothing was found after the NDRF team went inside with the specialised instrument. We have written to DAE to eliminate any possibility. During interrogation, it seems he intended to cheat people by forging documents."
"Upon investigation, it has been found that Ekka was following orders from a person in Munger, suspected to be the mastermind. The team of Army intelligence will soon leave for Bihar," said an official.
During a background check, police discovered that Ekka was earlier a Christian preacher. After his mother died in 2005 in an elephant attack, he got a job on compassionate grounds and was working as a forest volunteer at Panighatta Forest Range under Kurseong forest division for nine months.