Andhra Pradesh: ONGC’s Missing Container Holding Radioactive Caesium 137 Isotope Recovered From Scrap Shop

The mystery surrounding ONGC’s missing container filled with the radioactive chemical caesium 137 has been solved by the police who traced it to an iron scrap shop located in Kalidindi village of Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh, reports Economic Times.

The container was found with its locks broken but the substance inside had not been meddled with, as per DGP R P Thakur.

The episode stems from the container going missing on 17 January from a lorry that was parked at an ONGC facility in Rajahmundry. The material had been transported to the facility on 14 January from another ONGC base in the Krishna district.

Rajahmundry urban district superintendent of police Shemushi Bajpai stated that the container had been recovered by one of the special teams formed by the police with the aid of personnel belonging to the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF). "We located the source in an iron scrap shop in Kalidindi. The material was being sent to Rajahmundry by a special vehicle with police security," she stated.

While no arrests have been made yet, Bajpai stated that the police are collecting more information about the series of events which led to the container filled with radioactive material ending up at the scrap shop.

The police had previously alleged negligence of ONGC officials playing a role in the matter, since at Rajahmundry they had not checked the lorry when it reached the facility on 14 January. It was only after the Sankranti vacation on 17 January when they discovered that the container was missing and informed the authorities.