Explosive in UP Assembly: 7 SP MLAs to be interrogated

Lucknow: Investigators are preparing to question about seven Samajwadi Party legislators whose seats in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly are close the one from where explosive substance PETN was recovered on Wednesday.

A police officer said the PETN (pentaerythritol tetranitrate) explosive will undergo one more forensic test at Central Forensic Laboratory. A mock security drill was also conducted in the Vidhan Bhawan on Saturday, he said.

An ATS officer said that Unchahar MLA Manoj Pandey, under whose seat cushion the explosive was found, will also be interrogated, along with six other Samajwadi Party legislators, by NIA and ATS teams.

“We are going to screen the CCTV footage of that day and legislators sitting close to Mr Pandey’s seat will be called for questioning,” he said.

“We will be asking them if they saw any suspicious movement in Vidhan Sabha,” he said.

The ATS has also started recording statements of Assembly employees. On Friday night, the ATS prepared a sketch of the Opposition benches and sought CCTV footage of all entry points.

A recording of the Assembly proceedings has also been sought from Doordarshan, an official said.

Principal secretary of Vidhan Sabha Pradeep Dubey said that a formal letter seeking NIA probe into the case had been sent to the Centre.