The Pune Rural police arrested a 71-year-old man late on Tuesday and retrieved a large quantity of bomb-making material and explosives from his hut in the district’s Junnar tehsil.
The accused, identified as Rajaram Abhang, was residing in a shanty in Junnar’s Pimpalwandi village.
Police raided his home, acting on a tip-off, and seized a large quantity of gunpowder, equipment for making pipe bombs, two country-made electric gun machines and 59 detonator parts, besides swords and javelins.
The recovery of the huge cache of bomb-making materiel just ahead of the general elections has caused ripples throughout the Junnar area.
Previously convicted
“He [Abhang] was involved in an explosion in 2003 in which he allegedly tried to kill his wife suspecting her of having illicit relationship. But the plot misfired and Abhang was arrested. He subsequently served time in Yerwada prison,” said an official of the Pune Rural police.
The accused has been booked under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Arms Act, said the police.
