Ordinary Stones, Not Californium: Research Centre On Material Seized at Kolkata Airport
The Californium or iridium is a powerful radioactive material that is used to make atomic bombs.
Four shiny-looking stones, which had spread terror in the minds of many in Kolkata, have finally proven to be nothing more than ordinary stones. Last Wednesday, the CID had recovered four suspicious-looking stones from two people at the Netaji Subhash Chandra airport in Kolkata and many thought they were the dreaded radioactive Californium.
Californium or iridium is a powerful radioactive material that is used to make atomic bombs. One gram of the material costs around 16 crore rupees. The stones found near the airport were estimated to be around Rs 4,256.50 crore. After the initial panic, the stones were sent to the Bhabha Atomic Research Center. However, the Centre in its initial report said that the four rocks were not californium or iridium, but ordinary rocks. It has been learned that the four stones had been carried by the accused to make money by swindling unsuspecting people.
One of the two arrested, Shailen Karmakar, is a resident of Singur while the other is from the Paunan village of Polba police station in the district of Hooghly. His name is Asit Ghosh.
CID officials were alerted as soon as the airport authorities saw the men carrying the stones. The authorities detained these men and thoroughly interrogated them. The stones that looked like Californium were then immediately sent to the Bhabha Institute where it was found that they were just ordinary stones. The CID claimed that Asit Ghosh and Shailen Karmakar had tried to sell the metal to fool them with ordinary stones.
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