LUCKNOW: In an incident of a major security breach in highly sensitive and secured Ayodhya Army Cantonment, 18 live hand grenades were found at Nirmali Kund area near Army Officers' mess on Saturday night.
The area, situated on the banks of Ghaghra river, has a small population of civilians living along the river belt.
As there was a panic in locality after the locals spotted the hand grenades scattered in the bushes, the personnel from military intelligence rushed to the spot and defused all the grenades.
The incident comes two days after the Army spruced up the security of the cantonment with frisking of the people passing through the Cantonment. In fact, the spot where the hand grenades were spotted lies just 2.5 km away from firinging range of the cantonment.
According to Ram Milan Nishad, vice chairman of Cantonment Board, a local youth living in Nirmali Kund area first spotted the grenades and informed the army authorities. “How the hand grenades were taken out from the armoury should be probed thoroughly," he said.
A personnel of military intelligence claimed that often the grenades, which fail to explode during the exercise, were thrown. “But the presence of 18 live grenades at one place raises concern. So a departmental inquiry is being conducted into the issue to ascertain the batch of the grenades and also the person they were allotted to,” he added.