The powdered substance recovered from the Uttar Pradesh Assembly on July 12 that was suspected to be a high-grade explosive and described as a “dangerous terror conspiracy” by chief minister Yogi Adityanath has turned out to be “quartz”, a material used to make glass and cast metal.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has concluded that the substance was not the high-grade explosive PETN (Penta-erythritol tetranitrate) as suspected by the UP government, reported The Hindu. Forensic tests have proved that the substance is quartz.
The recovery of the powder, which was lying close to the seat of Leader of the Opposition in the assembly, had created headlines as Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath described it as a “dangerous terror conspiracy.” The state government had then sent a report to the union Home Ministry saying that the 150 g of powder wrapped in paper was PETN. The state also recommended NIA probe into it.
“This is PETN, this is a dangerous substance. It will be revealed who is behind this. Police verification should be conducted of every security personnel,” Adityanath had said, as quoted by The Indian Express.
Following this, the NIA registered a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The ATS questioned Samajwadi Party MLA Manoj Pandey in connection with the case as the powdered substance was found close to his seat. A team of experts from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Chandigarh, visited the Assembly building.
According to a report by Times of India, Aidtyanath had also claimed that a lab in Lucknow, SFSL, had found traces of PETN in the substance.
The UP government had also questioned a lab in Agra, FSL, that had said that it didn't find any trace of explosives in the powder. The state’s principal secretary had then countered those reports claiming that the state did not send any sample to the Agra lab and insisted that the substance indeed was PETN.
SP leader Akhilesh Yadav had then sought to ridicule the government saying that a powder used for polishing furniture was termed as explosive PETN by the state government for preventing the entry of former MLAs to the Vidhan Bhawan.
However, the test result and NIA’s conclusion in the case has put to rest all speculations about the substance.
According to officials quoted by The Hindu report, the polythene bag containing the powder had been lying there for at least five months. They now believe that it would have been left by workers involved in renovation work at the Assembly building and it must have escaped the cleaners’ attention as it was lying under the seat.