The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has reportedly recovered 27 live bombs at a privately-run hotel in the Jharkhand capital Ranchi on Tuesday.
According to a report by NDTV, the NIA along with Jharkhand Police raided the lodge, 350 kilometers from the capital city of Patna in Bihar, after a tip-off that terrorist Haider Ali had stayed there.
Haider Ali is one of the prime suspects in the case of serial bombings during a mega rally addressed by NDA prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi at Patna last month. Six people were killed in the serial blasts and more than 100 injured.
The NIA had raided a village near Ranchi to locate one of the six accused but Haider managed to escape.
The Jharkhand Police has detained four people for questioning. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Saket Kumar Singh told ANI that live bombs, which were pipe bombs, nine bundles of three each and very similar to those that went off in Patna, were recovered with detonators attached to them.
"We were enquiring many people. There were some people who were missing before Patna blasts, and we looked for their whereabouts. We got to know that they used to live in a lodge in Hindpiri, and we searched the lodge. Upon searching, we saw that the bombs found here were matching those used for Patna blasts," he added.
As per the NIA, Haider Ali is allegedly a close aide of Indian Mujahideen militant Tehseen Akhtar, who has been effectively running the terror outfit since its co-founder Yasin Bhatkal was arrested in August.
