JUNE 13, 2007

TEHELKA: I had a long meeting with Anilbhai, who spoke very openly. He told me about the dynamite… Is there a mine here?

Patel: There is, right here.

TEHELKA:Were bombs made here?

Patel: Everything went from here itself… See, blasting stones is our work anyway... We get material for blasting… we can use it easily.

TEHELKA: Dynamite?…

Patel: Meaning, our work is to blast stones and we blast stones with that…

TEHELKA: With dynamite?… So how many bombs were made at that time [in 2002]?

Patel: Lots of bombs… lots of desi bombs were made and sent…

TEHELKA: A thousand? Two thousand?

Patel: They were useful in the galis, in face-to-face encounters… Juhapura… Kalupur… the half-Hindu areas.

TEHELKA: So you had some bombmaking experts here at that time?

Patel: Yes, yes… There is one Amrudhbhai Patel…

TEHELKA: He made the bombs?

Patel: He taught us… he was in jail earlier…

TEHELKA: Is he from the Sangh…

Patel: He is from the RSS … He is quite old… and was in jail in 1989 for making bombs....

TEHELKA:Would you show me how they are made? [Dhawal tells his men in Gujarati to bring bombmaking material]...

Patel: Stones are blasted… the stones are stuffed [with dynamite] and blasted apart. The ground breaks with the impact, so imagine what it will do to human beings… This is used to drill a hole in the boulders…. Then there is this powder with RDX base.

TEHELKA: RDX?

Patel: Mixed… there is some RDX…. There is this white powder… then you connect a wire…. Then wire the battery… press it like this and rotate it and the blast takes place… It can be triggered with a mobile battery… it needs 20 watts power… We’ve become systematic now… Earlier we’d just light it and throw it… it blasts everything… boxes, you know, paan masala boxes… fill them, light them and throw them…