ANANTAPUR: The spotting of “used and expired” gelatin sticks on the route Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was to take created a flutter on Wednesday.
A few hours before the Chief Minister’s visit to the district, the police found 200 such sticks some distance away from a bridge near Kothacheruvu.
Speaking to The Hindu, a senior police officer, on condition of anonymity, said that the gelatin sticks, comprising empty shells, were found at a distance of 100 metres from the bridge, which formed part of the route the Chief Minister was to take from Puttaparthi airport to Bukkapatnam.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that a contractor working on the HNSS project dumped the gelatin sticks after using them. The gelatin sticks have been removed. The contractor has been taken into custody. The route has been sanitised yet again,” said the officer.
Meanwhile, Superintendent of Police S.V. Rajasekhara Babu said that the incident, while being thoroughly investigated, did not seem to “suggest any attempt” at sabotaging the Chief Minister’s programme.
“The gelatin sticks were not arranged in the form of a mine to affect anything. All of them expired. They were probably dumped carelessly. Nevertheless, we are investigating the issue,” Mr. Rajasekhara Babu said.
