B SridharJamshedpur: Panic spread in Sonpokhri village under Manoharpur police station limits of West Singhbhum district on Tuesday after a live mortar shell was unearthed during routine ploughing of a field, police said.The explosive — about two feet long and weighing nearly 30 kg — surfaced when tractor driver Shivcharan Mahato was tilling a field owned by one Vijay Hembrom in Munda Tola. The cultivator blade struck a heavy metallic object buried underground and dragged it to the surface.Mahato initially mistook it for scrap. After it was lifted and placed near a house adjoining the field, villagers suspected it to be an artillery and raised an alarm, fearing blast.A police team from Manoharpur rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area to prevent any mishap. “A Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) from Ranchi has reached the site and is examining the shell. It will be safely neutralised following assessment by the team. Controlled detonation is likely to be carried out tomorrow or the day after,” West Singhbhum SP Amit Renu said, adding that the mortar shell appears to be old and has no links with Left Wing Extremist (LWE) activities or any recent anti-maoist operations in the region.