1 more succumbs in temple blast, another 'explosive' found

The police said the blast happened when five youngsters reportedly tried to smash an expired ammunition/round attached to rocket launcher or recoilless gun, primarily used as an anti-tank weapon.

Dileepan, whose birthday the youngsters gathered to celebrate on Sunday, succumbed to injuries on Monday. Surya (22) was killed when the blast took place.

After recovering a round/ammunition that used in Carl Gustaf recoilless rifles or rocket launchers from the locality on Monday, the police said that the object which exploded on Sunday was also an expired ammunition.

The explosion took place at Gangaiamman temple in Manampathi near Tiruporur in Kancheepuram when a group of youngsters smashed the object that fell down from a tree on Sunday evening. They thought that it could be a treasure recovered from the temple pond, which was cleaned during the Aadi festival conducted recently.

The other victims were identified as V Jayaram (28), V Yuvaraj (25) and D Thirumal (22). They are under treatment at Chengalpattu Medical College and Hospital.

On Monday morning, the Kancheepuram range DIG PC Thenmozhi and the North Zone IG P Nagarajan visited the spot. In the afternoon, the police recovered an object similar to the one that exploded, near the temple. The police sources said that it was an ammunition used in the rocket launcher and it had expired in 2009. They also said the object that exploded on Sunday was also an ammunition used in rocket launcher and it had expired in 2007.

Sources said that there used to be a scrap shop in the area but it was closed last year. The police suspect that the person who was running the shop might have got the objects and disposed them. The police team is also trying to trace the scrap shop owner. It may be noted that a man was killed in a bomb blast at a scrap shop in Pammal 15 years ago.