Grenades found at Golden Temple

The Golden Temple is the most revered Sikh shrine

At least 114 grenades have been found by the Golden Temple in the city of Amritsar in northern India, police say.

A Sikh pilgrim is said to have found the grenades and told police. Officials do not believe they presented a danger.

Police say the grenades are rusting and old and may have been left behind in 1984 when troops stormed the complex.

The controversial Operation Bluestar was launched by the army to flush out Sikh separatists militants hiding in

the shrine, the holiest in Sikhism.

'Unusable'

An investigation has been launched after the grenades were found, reportedly in two sacks, but the authorities are playing down the significance of the discovery.

"This is not being viewed seriously because all the recovered grenades are old and unusable," Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh told the BBC.

The storming of the Golden Temple was opposed by many Sikhs who saw it as a desecration of their shrine.

Later that year Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was to pay with her life when her Sikh bodyguards assassinated her.

That in turn triggered a wave of anti-Sikh rioting that left nearly 3,000 Sikhs dead.