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Powder row getting murkier

WAS it dreaded plastic explosive Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) that was recovered inside the Vidhan Sabha, as stated by CM Yogi Adityanath on the floor of the House on July 14, or was it bleaching powder, lime powder or any other non-threatening powder?

Powder row getting murkier

An ATS team conducts a security drill at the UP Vidhan Sabha. PTI



Shahira Naim

WAS it dreaded plastic explosive Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) that was recovered inside the Vidhan Sabha, as stated by CM Yogi Adityanath on the floor of the House on July 14, or was it bleaching powder, lime powder or any other non-threatening powder?

This is the question that rocked the corridors of power in Uttar Pradesh last week. With every passing day, murkier details of the sloppy investigation and subsequent damage control are emerging.

With the preliminary report of the Lucknow Forensic Science Laboratory reportedly stating that it was PETN, the CM made a statement in the Vidhan Sabha, hinting at a terrorist conspiracy and assuring to hand over the investigation to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

In the name of tightening security measures against terrorism, a consensus was built in the Vidhan Sabha. Yogi asked the MLAs not to carry bags and mobiles, or at least to switch them off. In the days that followed, over 1,500 passes to the Vidhan Sabha premises were cancelled. Speaker Hriday Narayan Dixit said 365 general vehicle passes, 715 vehicle passes of former MLAs and 421 temporary passes had been cancelled.

However, when the House met on July 18, it became clear that the new rules applied only to journalists in the media gallery. While they were allowed to carry only a notebook and pen, MLAs continued carrying bags and mobiles which kept ringing during discussions.

What was even more disturbing were reports in a section of the media about the Agra Forensic Laboratory reportedly finding that the powder was not an explosive. Principal Secretary Home Arvind Kumar immediately issued a clarification, saying “no sample has been sent to the FSL, Agra, of the substance as they do not have the machines/wherewithal to conduct the requisite tests.” He further said two confirmatory tests were being conducted at the FSL in Lucknow. It is clear that there was either a goof-up or more alarming some sort of a conspiracy.

Retired DG S R Darapuri, who was DIG Technical Services, said the Agra lab was comparable to the best in the country and had far advanced machines and staff to conduct the test than the lab in Lucknow.

Sources say as reports of the Agra lab stating the powder was an explosive appeared in a section of the media, the Principal Secretary Home called up Lucknow FSL Director Shyam Behari Upadhyay. The latter clearly misled the Press Secretary, claiming that no such sample had been sent to Agra. Subsequently, a clarification was issued. When evidence of the docket number of the sample sent to Agra appeared in the media, Upadhyay had to admit his doing.

The state government is yet to take any punitive action against him. Checking his records, it has been found that there have been many cases of irregularities with reports changed and samples tampered with. Clearly, a hype was created over the powder on the basis of a preliminary report from a lab with little credibility.

The muddle has made the NIA do a U-turn and not endorse taking up the probe. It remains to be seen how this episode ends.

Yogi’s kin corner grant

An RTI petition by Sr Sanjay Yadav has brought out the fact that during Akhilesh Yadav’s tenure as CM, 86 per cent of the total grant given by Uttar Pradesh’s Gau Sewa Ayog to gaushalas and to organisations engaged in cow protection went to sister-in-law Aparna Yadav’s NGO Jeev Ashraya which runs the Lucknow Nagar Nigam’s Kanha Upwan Gaushala near the Lucknow airport. From 2012 to 2017, Jeev Ashraya got Rs 8.35 crore of the total Rs 9.66 crore grant.

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