KOLKATA: One person was killed and another was injured in a crude bomb explosion in West Bengal's Purba Bardhaman district, police said on Saturday.
The incident took place around 8.30 pm in Rajoa village under Katwa sub-division triggering panic among residents.
The blast was so intense that it blew off the tin roof of the house where bomb-making was going on, they said.
Locals said the explosion occurred in an abandoned house, often frequented by anti-social elements, allegedly for manufacturing crude bombs.
"There were two successive loud explosions that shook the entire area. The explosion rattled the doors and windows of nearby houses," a resident said.
Police reached the spot soon after being alerted and recovered a charred body from inside the house.
Another person, identified as Tufan Chowdhury, was found seriously injured and rushed to a local hospital.
Preliminary investigation suggests that a local anti-social had brought in a group of miscreants to manufacture country-made bombs inside the house when the explosion took place.
"We are probing whether the house was being used as a bomb-making facility and other links," a police officer said.
The body has been sent for post-mortem examination and a forensic team is expected to examine the blast site.