Sunday, April 11, 2010

New Delhi Police Yet To Trace Origin Of Cobalt-60

Police Waiting To Question Shop Owner


Police in New Delhi have yet to trace the origin of Cobalt-60, the radioactive material that caused serious injuries to six persons in a scrap market in the city on Friday.

"There is nothing concrete. We are waiting for Deepak Jain to regain his health. We are also waiting for reports from Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) and other agencies," Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Sharad Aggarwal told a news agency that officers were waiting for shop owner Deepak Jain to regain his health before questioning him as to the origin of the cobalt..

Mr Aggarwal said that nobody knew Mr Jain had bought the cobalt. "Normally, scrap dealers never makes public their source of scrap as it will affect their business. So, nobody knows from where he bought it," he said.

AERB experts safely removed eight bunches of metal scraps containing sources of the Cobalt-60 radioactive isotope from Mr Jain’s shop and transported the material to the Narora Atomic Power Station in Uttar Pradesh.

"Investigations are now in progress to ascertain the source of the radioactive cobalt-60, which was recovered from the scrap in a shop in Mayapuri," S A Hussain, Head of Radiological Safety division of AERB, said.

Mr Jain is fighting for his life at the Apollo Hospital while five others -- Gaurav, Rajendra Prasad, Ramjee Yadav, Ram Kalap and Himanshu Jain -- have been admitted to the AIIMS where all are being kept in an isolation ward.


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