Date:10/04/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/04/10/stories/2005041002610500.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Mystery behind `parcel bomb' unravelled

By Our Staff Reporter

NELLORE, APRIL 9. The police cracked the mystery behind the `courier bomb' by arresting the kingpin on Friday.

Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, the Superintendent of Police, B. Shivadhar Reddy, said that the accused, Kalinan Veeramani (33), was arrested.

On the confession made by him, the electrical device, including two unused detonators, were seized from a borewell at Mahatma Gandhi Nagar, Vedayapalem, here.

According to the SP, the motive behind the offence was the business rivalry between Sh. Shafi of Nellore, who is the business agent of Velu Swamy Jagannathan and Natesh of Salem, Tamil Nadu, and the accused.

Sh. Shafi was suspected to have poured sugar in the borewell compressor of the accused twice damaging it and caused a loss of Rs. 15 lakhs.

Veeramani allegedly conceived the idea of eliminating Sh. Shafi and on March 23, he sent a parcel from a courier service at Tirupati to Shafi and when he opened the parcel the next day there was an explosion causing injuries to him and two others.

The accused reportedly got detonators from one Velu Swamy of Namakkal district of Tamil Nadu, who in turn secured the same from B. Raghavan, who is said to be a licensed dealer. Both are yet to be apprehended.