[Reader-list] Drying bombs with heater, Swami blew up own ashram

[Aditya Raj Baul]

Drying bombs with heater, Swami blew up own ashram: Police

by Deepu Sebastian Edmond
Posted: Sun Dec 05 2010, 01:53 hrs
Mewat (Haryana):
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/drying-bombs-with-heater-swami-blew-up-own-ashram-police/720552/0

As succession rituals go, this one takes the cake. Police officials
interrogating Swami Anand Mitranand (46), Acharya of Maharishi
Dayanand Ashram in Mewat’s Bhadas, arrested for possessing two bombs
which went off on September 22, say that Mitranand was given the bombs
by his predecessor, the late Swami Amranand.
“He told us that Amranand entrusted him with two bombs of a kilo each
when he took charge in 1994. Amranand reportedly bought them after the
temple was attacked in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition in
1992,” said Virender Singh Yadav, Firozpur Jhirka’s Deputy
Superintendent of Police.

None was injured in the blast, which ripped through a part of the
building in which the bombs were placed, even damaging the
iron-sheeted gate 20 metres away. Mitranand, absconding since the
night of the blast, was arrested last Wednesday from Mahendragarh
district’s Jainpur village.

Ahead of the Allahabad High Court verdict on Ayodhya — it was to be
delivered on September 24 but was later deferred — brought the bombs
back from a long sojourn. “Mitranand stored the bombs in a
ten-feet-deep hole that was a well. He used to take them out at
regular intervals to check whether they were usable,” said Yadav.

The area population is predominantly Muslim. The ashram, built by the
Arya Samaj, had come up after the temple that stood in the site was
torn down by a mob post-Babri. “He feared that the ashram would be
attacked post-verdict, and so took the bombs out. But they were damp.
He tried drying them under an electric bulb, but that did not help. He
then put them under a room-heater,” said Yadav.

The bombs went off at 9.30 pm near the kitchen. “Mitranand was in the
kitchen, and some students were studying in the verandah. It had
started raining by then, so he took the students along and went to the
adjacent building, where a cultural programme was on. Soon after, the
bombs went off,” said Yashwant Singh, teacher in a neighbouring
government school, who stays on rent at the ashram. Singh was not at
the ashram at the time of the blast.

The ashram also runs a gurukul and gaushala. “We had about 60 students
from all over the country. But after the blast, more than half have
gone back,” said Kamal, a teacher.

The forensic report into the chemical composition of the bombs is
awaited. “We also found empty bullet shells from the blast site.
Mitranand was filling locally-produced gunpowder in them,” said Yadav.

Police have recovered a rifle from Mitranand’s office. Mewat’s
Superintendent of Police Yoginder Singh Nehra said the Swami had a
valid licence for the weapon.

DSP Yadav said the police had to track Mitranand. “It was a bad time,
as tension was running high before the verdict. Inmates of the ashram
insisted that Mitranand had gone missing a day before the bombs went
off, and without reason. That led us to suspect him,” he said, adding
that none other than Mitranand knew about the existence of the bombs.

Mitranand has been remanded to police custody for six days. He has
been charged under Indian Penal Code Sections 147, 148 (both related
to rioting), 285 (negligent conduct with respect to fire or
combustible matter), 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with
intent to destroy house, etc), 153 (wantonly giving provocation with
intent to cause riot) and Section 345 of the Explosives Act.