Traces of RDX and a nitrate compound were found at the site of the explosion that took place close to PM Narendra Modi's rally venue in Jammu on Sunday, reported India Today. Police had initially called the crater formed "the result of a meteorite impact". A detailed report is awaited by the CFSL.
The blast was heard at around 4:30 am on Sunday. The Laliana village is in the Bishnah tehsil of Jammu district, 8 kms from the venue where PM Modi addressed a huge gathering. Visuals showed cops and villagers around the crater, suggesting that the explosion had triggered panic in the area.
This was PM Modi's first visit to the union territory after Article 370 - which gave special powers to Jammu and Kashmir - was scrapped by centre in 2019.
The police initially said: "It doesn't seem to be terror-related. Details are being ascertained. We suspect it to be a meteorite.... might be lightning", a senior police officer said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday. In Palli Panchayat in Samba district of the Jammu division, he addressed Gram Sabhas across the country on the occasion of National Panchayati Raj Day.
PM Modi also inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of development projects worth over Rs 20,000 crore in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday. This included the Banihal-Qazigund road tunnel, the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway and the Ratle and Kwar hydroelectric projects.
“Let me assure the youth of the valley that they will not face difficulties and tribulations that their parents and grandparents faced,” Modi said, referring to the Kashmir Valley, the heartland of anti-India sentiment. His speech was a part of a function to commemorate the annual Panchayati Raj, or grassroots democracy, Day.
One of the power projects he laid foundation to on Sunday was first commissioned by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2013.
Tens of thousands of people and elected officials from local councils across the region assembled in Palli village near Jammu city for the speech, which was held amid amid tight security. The area visited by Modi generally welcomed the Indian government’s changes of Kashmir's status nearly three years ago.
Officials say the councils represent grassroots governance but its members have no legislative powers.
Government forces fanned out across Kashmir to thwart any violence. On Friday, two suspected militants and a paramilitary officer were killed in a gunfight some 15 kilometers (9 miles) from Palli.
Police chief Dilbag Singh said the slain militants were a “suicide squad from Pakistan” likely sent to sabotage Modi’s visit. He did not offer any evidence to back up his claim.
Modi’s two previous visits after Kashmir’s status was changed were to military camps to celebrate a Hindu festival with soldiers. I n 2019, Modi’s government revoked the region’s semi-autonomous status, annulled its separate constitution, split the area into two federal territories — Ladakh and Jammu-Kashmir — and removed inherited protections on land and jobs amid unprecedented lockdown.
