Petlawad Explosion: Accused Untraced; Congress, BJP Bicker Over His Links

While Rajendra remains absconding, police detained his wife, son, but let them off after interrogation, said their lawyer.

JHABUA: Police today questioned the wife and son of the absconding main accused in the case related to last week's explosion in Petlawad town here even as the ruling BJP and the Opposition Congress were engaged in a war of words over his political affiliation.

While Rajendra Kasawa remained absconding, police detained his wife Parmila (45) and son Shubham, but let them off after interrogation, said their lawyer R B Singhvi.

The explosion left 89 people dead.

Congress leader and former Union minister Kantilal Bhuria launched an indefinite protest at Kotwali police station here, demanding FIR against state BJP chief Nandkumar Singh Chauhan. He was joined by state Congress chief Arun Yadav.

"Nandkumar told media in Bhopal that Kasawa was a close friend of my son Vikrant, which is totally baseless. My son does have a friend named Rajendra Kasawa, but he is 30 years old and lives in Jhabua town, not in Petlawad," Bhuria said.

"When police can register a case under the government's pressure yesterday against Arun Yadav who had alleged that Kasawa was an RSS man, why can't they book Nandkumar? We will continue our agitation till Nandkumar is booked," he said.

A police official said that investigators grilled Parmila and Shubham to get clues about Kasawa's whereabouts.

A case under section 304 (culpable homicide) of IPC and the Explosive Substances Act has been filed against Kasawa.

The September 12 explosion in New Bus Stand area of Petlawad completely destroyed two buildings -- the one in which the explosive material was stored, and adjacent building housing Sethia restaurant -- besides damaging several houses.

The residential building in which the explosion took place is owned by Kasawa, who reportedly has a licence for use of explosives in digging of wells.

According to police, he had stored a huge quantity of explosives including gelatin sticks in the building. Yesterday the police had detained his two brothers, Narendra and Phoolchand Kasawa.