Blast Accused Missing, His Wife and Children Questioned by Police

JHABUA: The wife and children of the man wanted for a massive explosion that killed over 90 this weekend in Madhya Pradesh were tracked down and questioned by the police last night.

But Rajendra Kasawa, the main accused in the restaurant blast at Jhabua, remains missing. Sources say the police are assuming he escaped, but there is a possibility that he may have been killed in the blast.

Kasawa’s 19-year-old son has been kept at the police station but his wife and daughter, 23, have been allowed to go on the condition that they must come back whenever they are called.

The police say they were found at a relative’s house near Indore.

Kasawa had allegedly stocked explosives – nearly 100 gelatine sticks – for his mining business at a shop next to a restaurant, which triggered a series of blasts in Petlawad town in Jhabua district.

Most of those who died had come for breakfast at the restaurant on Saturday morning.

During searches in the city, the police found 69 detonators from a godown that belongs to Kasawa’s brother, who is also missing.

Kasawa reportedly had the license to use the explosives but had stored them at his shop illegally.

The National Investigation Agency, which looks into terror cases, also surveyed the blast site.

Locals claim they had lodged a complaint against Kasawa almost a year ago, but no action was taken against him. “I had complained to the Collector about Kasawa storing explosives here but no one did anything,” said Channu Lal, his neighbour.

The high-intensity blast completely destroyed Kasawa’s shop and the two-storey building in which the restaurant operated.