In a major security scare in Chandigarh on Monday, a live bomb was found in a high-security area that houses the official residences of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar. The Punjab and Haryana Secretariat as well as the state assemblies are also located in the fields in the same vicinity on the Nayagaon-Kansal road.
A bomb squad was rushed to the spot immediately after the police control room received a message that a bomb-like object had been seen near the Kansal and Nayagaon T-point, a disaster management official said.
“When we checked it and found that it was a live shell,” the official said, adding the area has been sealed. “It is a matter of investigation how this shell reached the spot,” the official said.
According to the official, the police and the bomb disposal squad reached the spot and placed a drum over the shell and covered it with sandbags. The official added that the Army has been alerted.
“Army officials will come and take care of it,” he said, adding that discarded shells have been found in the past as well. The possibility that a scrap dealer dumped it there cannot be ruled out, he said.
(With agency inputs)