Gelatin sticks found along PM Modi’s convoy, half hour before he passed by

In what could be dubbed as a security breach during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bengaluru on Sunday (May 10, 2026), the police recovered a packet with two gelatin sticks abandoned along the PM’s convoy route, minutes before it passed to reach the Art of Living Ashram. 

Mr. Modi was in the city to attend the 45th anniversary celebrations of The Art of Living Foundation and the 70th birthday event of its founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Mr. Modi travelled from HAL Airport to a temporary helipad in Bengaluru South district and travelled to the ashram by car.

Gelatin sticks were found in a box along this route near Vaderahalli Gate. The police and local administration had cleared a few petty shops near the location, sources said. R. Srinivas Gowda, SP, Bengaluru South, said a constable and the anti-sabotage check team found a suspicious packet around 20 feet away from the road during an area domination exercise. 

Threat call

The police have also detained a suspect who made a call to the police control room at around 7:30 a.m. on Sunday threatening to trigger explosions near HAL Airport and the Art of Living premises during the Prime Minister’s visit.

This triggered an intensive check at both locations by multiple agencies. While nothing was found near HAL Airport, where the PM landed from Delhi, the police recovered an abandoned packet with two gelatin sticks near Vaderahalli Gate, near the Art of Living Ashram at around 10:30 a.m. Mr. Modi reached the venue by around 11 a.m.  

However, the police said the suspect, Lohith, 40, now detained from his house in Koramangala, may not have abandoned the bag with gelatin sticks near the ashram. He may have not visited Tataguni, sources said.

The Kaggalipura Police have registered a separate case and are probing the source of the gelatin sticks. 

The suspect detained in Koramangala, who made the threat call, is suspected to be mentally unstable. He has a history of making similar hoax threat calls during earlier VVIP visits to the city as well, the police said.

During interrogation, he is said to have claimed to have worked for Indian intelligence agencies, ISRO and even the British Empire. 

Probe

Responding to questions as to whether this was a security breach, S. Girish, Deputy Inspector General of Police (Central Range), praised the police for finding the gelatin sticks during a routine anti-sabotage check before the Prime Minister’s convoy passed by. He said a probe was under way as to whether the suspect detained in Koramangala had placed those gelatin sticks. 

Six special teams of the Bengaluru South Police have been formed to probe how those gelatin sticks came to be along the convoy route. Kaggalipura Police have registered a case under Explosives Act, 1884.