Title - Santhosh held for planting bomb on tracks

Ernakulam: Police took into custody Muttancherryveetil Santhosh (31) for planting a bomb on the railway track in Vellur in Kottayam district.

Santhosh had gone underground and was hiding in a rubber plantation when police surrounded him on a tip off. Police and locals were on the look out for Santhosh and when he left the rubber plantation to quench his thirst, locals spotted him and intimated to the police.

Police will be interrogating him to get further details.

The police on Saturday nabbed the person who is suspected to have placed a bomb in a tiffin box near the Piravom railway station in Velloor Thursday.

Senthil Kumar, 37 who is a KSRTC driver of Ernakulam depot, native of Mulunthuruthy, was held from a house at Panayoor near Shoranur. The police earlier recovered chemical used for making bomb from his home.

The bomb with an attached timer device was found from near the signal box adjacent to the track at around 9.45 am. A preliminary investigation by bomb squad had found that the explosive could have caused a low intensity blast and the substance used was Ammonium Nitrate.

Crime branch DySP Biju K Stephen is investigating the incident. The investigation is being centred on Senthil following the statement of Thomas, driver of a private bus running on Ernakulam-Cherukara route. The police have noticed that the handwriting seen in the diary recovered from his house and the bike number written on the tiffin box is that of Senthil's.

The dispute between the two worsened when Thomas became the driver of the private bus earlier driven by Senthil. Police have come to the conclusion that the animosity towards Thomas made him write the former's bike number in the tiffin box after placing the bomb.