Mumbai: 

Tall order: Art director Nitin Desai has used 10 elephants - 24 feet high - for the Lalbaugcha Raja pandal. PIC/rane ashish (Above) Police fear that the openings in the belly of the elephants, if not sealed properly, can be used to hide explosives. PIC/varun singh

The Ganesh mandal of Lalbaugcha Raja is leaving no stone unturned to celebrate its 75th year. It has roped in renowned art director Nitin Desai to design the 'sets', which includes the use of elephants made of SRP fibreglass.

However, the Mumbai police are worried that these may, in fact, turn out to be Trojan elephants, so to speak, that cause mass destruction as the openings the underbelly, if not sealed properly, can be used to hide explosives. The mandal is considered one of the targets of a terrorist attack because of the sheer numbers who visit it every year - a minimum of a lakh a day.

"We have asked the mandal to ensure that the opening is sealed and locked," said Ramesh Poman, senior inspector of Kalachowki police station. Sunil Joshi, chairman of the managing committee of Lalabaugcha Raja, said, "We are co-operating with the police. The stomach is open at the moment only for electrical connections. It will be covered once work is completed." However, when this reporter clicked the pictures of the openings in the stomach, there was no electrician around and neither were there security personnel.

Trojan horse

The term Trojan horse comes from the Greek story of the Trojan War in which the Greeks give a giant wooden horse to their foes, the Trojans, ostensibly as a peace offering. But after the Trojans dragged the horse inside their city walls, Greek soldiers sneaked out of the horse's hollow belly and opened the city gates, allowing their compatriots to pour in and capture Troy.