Bellandur police discovered a bunch of gelatin sticks and an electrical detonator stored in a box in a tractor parked at a labour shed opposite a school at Chikkanayakanahalli in Bengaluru on the night of March 17.
Police Sub-Inspector Revannsiddappa alerted his senior before seizing the material and registering an FIR against the owner of the tractor under the Explosives Act and Section 286 (negligent conduct with respect to explosive substance) of the Indian Penal Code.
The initial probe revealed that the explosive material was in violation of licencing conditions and negligence in the way it was stored, a police officer said.
The police are on the lookout for the tractor owner to ascertain the source of the explosive material. The police suspect that it was used to break rocks or for work in a quarry.
This incident comes in the wake of the recent blast at The Rameshwaram Cafe, in which nine persons were injured. All the injured in the incident have been discharged after treatment in a hospital, while the NIA and the Bengaluru police continue to hunt for the person who planted the IED.