Almora Police have solved the case involving the recovery of explosive material near a school in the Sult region. Officers have arrested Prashant Kumar Bisht, a resident of Garsari, Champawat, who reportedly kept the explosives during a road construction project six years ago. The recovered items were gelatin explosive tubes, which were later discarded into nearby bushes.
The incident created panic last Friday when students spotted explosive material in bushes near Government Inter College, Dabra and informed the police. Following the alert, senior officials including SSP Devendra Pincha reached the location and monitored the investigation on-ground for three consecutive days. Search operations were conducted around the area, and several contractors and suspects were questioned.
According to the SSP, Bisht revealed during interrogation that he had taken up a contract to build a three-kilometre road in 2016–17. During construction work in 2018, when the project encountered rocky terrain, gelatin tubes were arranged by his partner for blasting purposes. Bisht had been living in a rented room in a nearby village, where the explosive material was stored.
How the explosives reached the bushes
Bisht vacated the rented room but did not clear the belongings for nearly six to seven years. In June 2025, when house owner Himmat Singh tried contacting him to empty the room, Bisht instructed him to break the lock and clean it. Labourers hired for cleaning unknowingly disposed of the material into nearby bushes, unaware of the presence of explosive substances.
The incident surfaced after recent bomb blasts in Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir, leading to heightened security sensitivity. The discovery of explosives near a school prompted the deployment of bomb disposal units, dog squads, LIU teams and police reinforcements. Four separate teams were formed for the investigation.
SSP Pincha confirmed that further interrogation is underway to identify possible involvement of other individuals.
