Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 26: A Burmese national was killed and three members of a family including a woman and two children were injured when a mysterious explosive device went off in a plot being used by a scrap dealer at Deeli under the jurisdiction of Channi Himmat police station this afternoon.
Police said exact nature of the explosive device hasn’t been ascertained so far but it looked like a shell like device, which had been purchased along with scrap material by a scrap dealer Shahid Ali of Deeli.
Saifullah Mir, a Burmese national, who was working as a labourer with scrap dealer Shahid Ali at Deeli, was breaking the shell like device when it exploded at 12.30 pm today with a big bang shattering window panes of the house of Shahid, which was located within the premises of the space being used by him for collecting and breaking scrap material.
While Saifullah was killed on spot in the blast, three family members of the scrap dealer were injured as splinters of the explosive device fell inside the house after breaking window panes of the house, police said.
The injured have been identified as Suhail and Deepu, two minors sons of Shahid Ali and his sister-in-law Shehnaz Bano wife of Mushtaq Ali.
Police parties headed by Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) East SS Samyal rushed to the spot and cordoned off the blast site. All four victims were rushed to the Government Medical College (GMC), Jammu, where Saifullah was declared brought dead while three other injured were admitted with splinter wounds. However, condition of all three injured was stated to be stable.
Body of Saifullah was handed over to his family members after post-mortem in the GMC Jammu.
Later, senior police officers including IGP Jammu Rajesh Kumar, DIG Jammu Shakeel Ahmad Beig and SSP Jammu Atul Goel also visited the spot for on spot examination of the blast site.
Police called Bomb Disposal Squad and Forensic experts to the spot, who collected splinters and remnants of the explosive device to ascertain its nature.
According to police, the explosive device appeared to be a border or firing range shell, which was presumed by the scrap dealer as dead. Saifullah was breaking the device to extract material from it, when it went off with a deafening sound. Police said such was intensity of the explosive device that window panes of the house of Shahid Ali were also shattered and splinters fell inside the house.
Police said Saifullah was a Burmese national and had migrated here along with his family. He was working with the scrap dealer and putting up in Narwal.
Police have registered a case against the scrap dealer, Shahid Ali for negligence. Police have also taken up investigations to find out nature of the explosive device and the place from where the material had been brought. However, police have so far ruled out any sabotage.
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