Uttar Pradesh Assembly Speaker HN Dixit ordered the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to probe how 150 grams of PETN, an explosive substance, found its way into the Assembly on Wednesday.

Dixit was acting on the recommendation of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday.  They said the substance was found on the floor of the house, three tables away from the seat of the Leader of Opposition, Ram Govind Chowdhary, by security staff. The dog squad had failed to detect the white odourless powdered explosive. They said the amount of explosive was more than enough to cause extensive damage to the building and to legislators and staff members.

The Speaker said that it was an attempt to destabilise the state legislature. “It was a big conspiracy and a possible terror attack. It was a big challenge to all members of the UP Vidhan Sabha. The House condemns the cowardly act and orders a NIA probe to expose those behind it,” announced the Speaker.

The Deoria Police had arrested a student, identified as Farhan Ahmed, on Thursday. He had threatened to blow up the UP Assembly building on August 15.

Adityanath has suggested stationing a Quick Response Team in the Vidhan Sabha. “Instead of discussing the security of the people of the state, we are discussing our own security,” he said.

“Forensics experts told me that 500 grams of the PETN was enough to blow up the entire Vidhan Sabha building. It is a breach of security and those behind it should be exposed by the NIA,” he said.

Cancelling all passes to Vidhan Sabha including the media, except for members and staff, the UP Assembly Speaker also banned mobiles, bags and electronic gadgets including laptop and mobiles inside the building.