The Indian Air Force said Tuesday that one of its fighter jets intercepted and shot down a "suspicious" UFO over the Barmer district in the northern state of Rajasthan near the border with Pakistan. The fighter jet was scrambled after the mysterious UFO was detected on IAF radar, triggering an alert.

Following a strange silence by officials on details about the nature of the UFO and what caused multiple powerful explosions after the UFO was brought down, there has been speculation in UFO circles that Indian defense officials are covering up information about the incident and that this could be India's version of the famous 1947 Roswell UFO incident.

A statement by the IAF said the "balloon-shaped" UFO was picked up by IAF radar between 10:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Tuesday, January 26, 2016, and a Sukhoi Su-30 MKI fighter jet was scrambled to intercept it, according to the Times of India.

An Indian Air Force Sukhoi Su-30 MKI was scrambled to shoot down the UFO [Image via g4sp/Wikimedia Commons]The jet shot down the object over Gudgi in the Barmer district. The Barmer district is about 500 kilometers from Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan.

The Hindustan Times reports that a defense spokesperson, Lt. Col. Manish Ojha, said police and military officials were sent to Gugdi, about 20 kilometers from Balotra, near the Kishor Singh Ki Dhani area, to investigate the incident. The debris of the UFO was located, and it was being investigated to determine its nature.

"Between 10.30 and 11 am today (Tuesday, January 26, 2016) an unidentified balloon-shaped object was picked up by the Indian Air Force (IAF) radar," the official statement said. "An IAF fighter was launched, which intercepted the object and brought it down. Materials have been retrieved and further investigation is ongoing."

Police investigators said five triangle- or cone-shaped metallic objects were recovered from the site and handed over to the IAF.

"We are in touch with the IAF officials and are sending them the pieces for further analysis," Barmer police said in a statement.

The Hindustan Times reports that the superintendent of police, Jassaram Bose, confirmed the report that five cone-shaped metallic objects were recovered from the site.

Villagers, according to India's Asian News International (ANI), said soon after jets were scrambled and the UFO was brought down, five deafening explosions were heard over Gugdi (Gugri) that spread panic in surrounding rural communities.

The blast was heard over a three-mile (five-kilometer) radius. Residents of Gugdi village and Panawara (Panawada) village in the Baitu area said that the blasts were so powerful that it caused cracks in the walls of their homes. However, no human casualties were reported.

"The explosions were loud... The blasts were heard five times and we saw some objects falling from the sky after an aircraft flew by... my house has developed cracks," said Manohar Singh, a resident of Gugdi village.

Police confirmed that this was not the first time massive blasts have been heard in the area. Villagers in nearby Sinleejageer (Sinli Jagir) in Barmer also reported in January that debris from a UFO fell from the sky after a loud "mysterious" blast was heard over the village. Villagers collected samples of the debris and sent them to the authorities for investigation. But security officials have refused to confirm what caused the blasts or the nature of the mysterious debris.

Thus, the matter remains a mystery to worried villagers, and it has sparked speculations in UFO circles.

But the Press Trust of India (PTI) reportedly quoted a defense source saying the object may have originated from the Pakistani side of the border ("western sector") and may have been a meteorological weather balloon. But IAF officials were unwilling to confirm the suggestion and only said they were investigating the object.

Some sources also suggested the UFO could have been a Pakistani spy craft.

But some UFO enthusiasts have noted that the Barmer district is only about 300 miles from Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, where mysterious metal balls fell from the sky earlier in the month.

Already, UFO conspiracy theorists are speculating that the Barmer incident could be India's version of the July 1947 Roswell, New Mexico, UFO incident. Conspiracy theorists say U.S. government officials had tried to cover up an alien UFO crash in Roswell with the story that the crashed object was only a meteorological weather balloon.

July 1947 report by the Roswell Daily Record said a UFO had crashed at a ranch near Roswell [Image via Drew Peacock/Wikimedia/Public Domain]The statement by military officials that the Roswell UFO was only a weather balloon came after a previous statement to the media that military officials had recovered a "flying saucer" at the crash site. But since the incident, multiple witnesses have come forward to say that a UFO had indeed crashed in Roswell. Some even claimed that military officials had recovered dead alien bodies from the crash site.

Claims that an extraterrestrial craft and alien beings were recovered at Roswell have made it the most famous UFO site in the world.

The Barmer UFO incident on Tuesday, January 26 came on the day India was celebrating its 67th Republic Day, with security forces across the country on a high alert.

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