268 cartridges found near Ludhiana school

Tribune News Service

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Ludhiana, August 12

As many as 268 cartridges were found lying on the roadside along the boundary wall of Kundan Vidya Mandir (KVM) in Civil Lines here today.

Panic gripped the area after the seizure of ammunition near the school.

A schoolbus driver, Bittu, first spotted the cartridges scattered near the boundary wall. He raised the alarm and informed the school principal who called the police. Police teams along with a bomb detection unit and a dog squad reached the spot and initiated a search operation inside the school premises and its surroundings.

Sources said the police had taken the cartridges in its custody and sent those to a laboratory for a technical investigation.

‘Bullets meant for hunting’

A police officer said the seized cartridges were meant for hunting. The person concerned might have thrown the packet on the roadside after observing a police naka on the Hambran Road, he said.

Narinder Bhargav, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), said: “It seems that the cartridges belong to someone who own a carbine for hunting. Of these 268 cartridges, five are .45 bore cartridges (dummy cartridges used to produce sound to scare birds and animals). The remaining cartridges are of .30 bore which are used for hunting. We are suspecting that some hunter might be carrying more cartridges than permitted for his weapon. Due to high alert in the city, he got panicked and threw the ammunition on the roadside near the school. We are checking the details of all persons who own licenced weapons, mainly for hunting.”

Parents force close school

Huge police presence near the school created panic among the residents, mainly parents of students. There were rumours that the police had recovered a bomb from KVM premises.

Anxious parents rushed to the school and gathered in large numbers outside the main entrance. Navita Puri, school principal, sent a message to the parents and appealed to them not to give in to rumours and try to maintain peace.

The panicky parents, however, pressured the authorities to close the school and let their children move out of the building. The authorities reportedly gave in to the pressure and shut the school at least 30 minutes before the scheduled time.