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Contradicting claims by the local police, the Indian Air Force on Thursday night said its radars did not detect any intrusion by unidentified aircraft over West Bengal.
Reports indicated that the intrusion may have occurred around 1200 hours IST and the plane may have come from the direction of Bangladesh.
An IAF spokesman told rediff.com that the Eastern Air Command is yet to receive any information from the state authorities or local police about any mysterious plane.
"However, after hearing of such reports, the IAF has initiated an inquiry into the possibility of a low flying aircraft entering Indian airspace," he said.
The IAF has a network of radars to monitor Indian airspace. Incidentally, its Bagdogra airbase is not very far off from the village where the incident was reported.
However, it is possible for a very low flying plane to go undetected by IAF radars.
Some villagers had told Superintendent of Police (North Dinajpur) Arun Kumar Sharma that the plane dropped two packets, which fell into a pond. The police have cordoned off the pond, Sharma told a television channel.
Sources said the village comes under Chopra police station.
Even as senior officials were trying to ascertain the facts, some IAF officials said it was quite possible that the plane was one of their own, practising manoeuvres for the October 8 IAF Day celebrations.
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