SABARIMALA: About 360 kg of gunpowder, suspected to have been abandoned after being brought for a ritual fireworks display which has been recently banned, was today seized from a forest near the famed Lord Ayyappa temple here.
The explosive material, kept in 12 containers (each weighing over 30 kg), was found at Sabari Peetam in the Sabarimala-Pampa forest route, just three km away from the hillock shrine, police said.
The seizure was made during a joint combing operation by police and forest personnel and bomb detection squad held as part of a three-day special security arrangement ahead of the anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition on December 6, they said.
Thousands of Ayyappa pilgrims are converging every day as part of the ongoing two-month-long annual festival season at the hill shrine that will conclude mid-January.
"The explosive material has been kept at a special place maintained by Travancore Devaswom Board near the Sannidhanam (main shrine). The Chief Controller of Explosives is expected to arrive here tomorrow and examine the material," a police official said.
The material, assumed to be gunpowder, was suspected to have been brought for the 'vedi vazhipadu', a ritual fireworks display, held annually at Sabari Peetam as part of the Vishu festival at the shrine.
"The ritual was recently banned by the Forest Department and the fireworks contractors have no license for that now. We suspect that they might have abandoned the explosives in view of the ban," the official said.
A case had been registered under Section 9(B)(1)(b) of the Explosives Act, the official added.