The seizure of explosives a month ago had kept the police on tenterhooks till they found that it was meant for quarries.

It was ‘barely a month back that the Vellarada police stumbled upon a hidden cache of explosives, comprising 200 kg of ammonium nitrate and 1,800 gelignite sticks.

Apart from a lingering doubt that a regular carrier of explosives into the State from the neighbouring State Vinod of Parassala was behind the cache, the police could not make much headway into the case. And Vinod had been off the radar ever since.

Then, Saturday happened.

The Parassala police nabbed two persons who were trying to ferry in 250kg of explosives via the border.

And lo, the man for whom the Vellarada police were searching was among them. Vinod, along with his accomplice Patricia, was continuing his business unabashedly even when the police were on the lookout for him.

According to Biju Kumar, sub-inspector, Parassala, both Vinod and Patricia were charged with similar offences earlier as well. As for the explosives, he said the source was suspected to be Tirunelveli.

The accused had reportedly confessed that the explosives, both the seizures at Parassala and Vellarada, were intended for illegal sale to quarries in the Pappanamcode and Nemom areas.

Investigation is still on, but with the police finally heaving a sigh of relief that they now conclusively know what the explosives were meant for.

This was a love story gone horribly wrong. As a police officer put it, a story that was wrong right from the beginning.

A youngster got quite close with a woman, more than double his age, and when she threatened to move in with him, he murdered her.

The story, however, did not end there.

The youngster, Dinesh alias Unni, 23, of Pothencode, was on his way to end his life on the railway tracks before the police managed to trick him into returning home, or rather, into their hands.

The episode began unfolding with the woman, Chandravalli, reaching the residence of Dinesh late last week.

Their acquaintance had begun with Chandravalli arranging a visa and a job in the Middle East, which he quit after finding it beyond his taste. The relation with the visa provider but went on, till it turned sour when she decided to move in with him.

Dinesh, failing to find ways to conceal the body after killing Chandravalli, abandoned it in his home and headed to the railway tracks, apparently to end his own life before the law caught up with him.

The police found this through a message he sent to his sister, and quickly enough made a friend call him and tell him that Chandravalli was not dead and that he need not end his life. Falling for the bait, Dinesh returned home, only to be nabbed by the police on the way.

The colour red of love, in this story, certainly had more than one shade.