KOLKATA: The CID has recovered four mineral-like rocks — weiging 250.5gm — that two men were trying to sell, claiming it was an extremely expensive radioactive metal called californium. They were caught red-handed while trying to make the sale at Motilal Colony near the airport. A sample of the seized substance has been sent to Bhabha Atomic Research Centre for identification.
Californium is valued around Rs 17 crore per gm in the international market. If the confiscated material does turn out to be the radioactive metal, it could be worth Rs 4,250 crore. Police have not ruled out the possibility of it being fake.
Californium, a synthetic radioactive material, has a variety of uses, including acting as a neutron emitter, providing neutrons for the start-up of nuclear reactors, and to detect gold and silver ores.
According to police, two persons — Sailan Karmakar (41) of Singur and Asit Ghosh (49) of Polba — were at the house of local promoter Babu Dey and were negotiating the sale when CID who had been tipped off earlier raided the house and arrested the duo. Dey had earlier approached the police after he suspected something fishy in the deal that they wanted to conclude for a few lakhs.
Karmakar and Ghosh, both from Hooghly, initially said they had brought the metal in the form of four ash-coloured rocks from Karnataka by train. “During interrogation, the accused initially claimed that they were appointed only as carriers. Later, they said it might have been sourced from Kerala. There are inconsistencies in the statements,” said a source.
In May-end, eight people had been apprehended in Lucknow while attempting to sell 340 gm of the substance they had claimed was californium. Like that metal, what was confiscated during the raid on Wednesday evening also sparkles in the dark and reflects light. However, the Department of Atomic Energy had clarified that the material confiscated in Lucknow was not a radioactive material. In that instance, too, the arrested persons had attempted to sell the material to a builder who had alerted cops.
