Scrap dealer kept radioactive pin,hospitalised

The team from the National Disaster Management Authority has retrieved the 3.8-cm-long pin which has a diameter of two mm.

Jain owns the scrap shop at D2/62,located near D2/32. Eight pieces of metal scrap containing Cobalt-60 were found in the latter address last week.

Jain had reportedly gone to Deepak Jain’s shop and picked up the pin “because of its shiny texture”,the police said. Since he had kept it for over a week,the experts are screening his family members and employees for possible radiation exposure.

Ten pieces of the radioactive material were recovered from the Mayapuri scrap market over the past week. The police are yet to trace where the machinery came from.

Seven people are already in hospital with radiation poisoning. Others,including policemen,are being screened for exposure.

The Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences had asked 20 people working at the scrap market to come on Friday for health check-up. Around 10 have undergone tests and are awaiting results.