Police have not yet ascertained how the radioactive substance ended up in a scrap yard, but said they are investigating the case "from all possible angles."

India's Central Crime Station (CCS) has recovered an unspecified quantity of a missing radioactive isotope of Cesium-137 (CS-137) which was reported missing from a facility belonging to the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) in Rajamahendravaram, Andhra Pradesh.

The radioactive material went missing on 14 January and was eventually traced to a scrap yard in the village of Kalidindi in the aforementioned state's Krishna district. Meanwhile, the ONGC is conducting an internal investigation into the matter.

"The substance has been traced in a scrap yard at Kalidindi in Krishna district. Immediately after tracing, National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) teams and ONGC officials were called to the spot for identification. The radioactive substance [CS-137] have been recovered but the accused have not yet been identified. We are investigating the case and looking into all angles. The accused will be nabbed soon," Shemushi Bajpayee, the Rajamahendravaram superintendent of police, said.

Commenting on the case, R P Thakurhe, the director general of Andhra Pradesh police, said, "The substance was traced by Central Crime Station (CCS) and law & order teams that had been formed to hunt for the missing substance. They verified with ONGC officials that it was the isotope that had been missing since January 14 and handed it over to them."

Cesium-137 is the most common radioactive form of Cesium and is produced as a byproduct of nuclear fission.