11 students held in Prayagraj for crude bomb blasts amid turf war

PRAYAGRAJ: 11 students, allegedly responsible for several blasts in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj over the last three months, have been arrested.

It has been alleged that a turf war between two groups of students from reputed schools led to a series of crude bomb blasts in the area.

Among all accused, 10 are minors while one is an adult. "The police have sent the minor accused to the juvenile correctional home and the adult to the jail," Shailesh Pandey, Senior Superintendent of Police told news agency ANI.

It has been reported that these students have formed different groups on social media with different names such as Jaguar, Maya, Immortals and Tandav which consisted of around 300 members in each group. To show their dominance, they used to carry out the incidents and make videos viral later on social media. They were doing this for connecting more students to their group.

Police says the arrested students told them they did not get bombs from any other place, but they themselves used to make them with the help of YouTube. The money for the bombs used to come from the money that the students took from their parents in the name of school activities.

They used to buy firecrackers from the market for explosive materials.

The police told ANI that the first bombing incident happened in the Sangam area and in the month of July, around five bomb blasts took place.

The police have appealed to the parents to keep an eye on their children's actions.

Police have also said that action will now be taken against the students under the stringent National Security Act.

"The police have taken note regarding these incidents and have arrested around 35 people since last month. We are observing social media platforms and wherever we are finding any suspicious activities, we are taking action. The police will continue further investigation in this matter," Shailesh Pandey told ANI.