KOLKATA: Five children were injured in a blast while playing with a crude bomb which they mistook as a ball in Malda district on Sunday. Two of the injured were admitted to Malda Medical College and two others were being treated at a local health centre. The other child was discharged after being given first aid.The injured were identified as Bikram Saha (8), Subhajit Saha (9), Mithun Saha (10), Subal Saha (6) and Abdul Rehan Sheikh (8).
Upon receiving information, police personnel from a local outpost rushed to the spot and carried out a search in the area and recovered two containers stashed with crude bombs. Police sources said the incident took place in the afternoon when the children were playing behind the house of one Nikhil Saha at Gopalnagar village in Kaliachak police station area.
“The residents of the village heard a loud noise of explosion and they ran to the field where the children were playing. They saw the five injured children lying on the field and groaning in pain. They immediately took them to Gopalganj healthcare centre and also informed the police,’’ said an officer of Kaliachak police station.
The police personnel recovered the cache of crude bombs from an abandoned structure which was created to dig a well. “It appears that the stockpile of crude bombs was stored with an intention to create unrest in the area. We are yet to ascertain whether it was stored by local goons or activists of political parties,” said.
The BJP alleged the crude bombs were stored by local Trinamool Congress activists. “Children are falling victims of the ruling TMC’s unlawful activities. Had the entire cache of the crude bombs been exploded, don’t know what would have been the number of casualties,” said BJP’s state president Sukanta Majumdar.
In another incident, the sleuths of the Special Task Force (STF) and Burdwan district police arrested two men and recovered explosives and materials which were being transported in a bus to make crude bombs. “The explosives were procured from Bihar. It was being taken to another place which we are yet to know,” said a police officer.
TMC ‘fact-finding’ team visits Prayagraj crime site
A five-member ‘fact finding’ team of the Trinamool Congress on Sunday visited Prayagraj in UP where five members of a family were murdered and set ablaze recently. The team members alleged that at least two of the victims were sexually assaulted. The team comprises central president of TMC’s national trade union wing Dola Sen, former MP Mamatabala Thakur, RTI activist Saket Gokhale, former UP Congress leader who joined the TMC Lalitesh Tripathi and Bengal minister Jyotsna Mandi.