Mistaken for a ball, children playing near Kankinara railway lines in Barrackpore under North 24 Paraganas district picked up a bomb and as soon as they threw it, it went off killing a seven-year-old boy and injuring two others Tuesday morning, said police, who later recovered a crude bomb from the area.
Police said Nikhil Paswan died on the spot.
The incident took place in Ward Number 10 of Prem Chand Nagar under the Bhatpara municipality.
“We received information about the explosion around 6:30 am. One child died while another received a serious hand injury. We heard there was a live bomb also. The case is being probed from all possible angles. The Police Commissioner has already formed two teams and instructed to carry out raids (to seize bombs) so that such incidents don’t take place again,” said Shrihari Pandey, Deputy Commissioner (North), Barrackpore Police Commissionerate.
Reacting to the incident, TMC Jagadal MLA Somnath Shyam said, “Hooligans and anti-social elements behind the act will be identified soon and strictly punished.”
Blaming the ruling TMC for the incident, BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar called “Bengal a hub of arms and ammunition”.
“There was a time when arms were being manufactured in Bihar. Now, Bengal is the hub of such arms and ammunition. With panchayat polls around the corner, these are tactics being employed to keep the Opposition under pressure. Things come out in public when one or two of these bombs explode accidentally,” said Majumdar.
“He is in a hurry to issue statements these days because it is being said that he is not going to hold the post of BJP’s state president for long, said TMC’s spokesperson Kunal Ghosh reacting to Majumdar’s statement. “He is making all attempts to retain the position and draw the attention of his party leaders. Some anti-social elements, mostly outsiders, commit such acts and crimes to highlight the negative side. Police are constantly making attempts to identify such people.”
Police said a case was registered against unidentified persons under the Explosive Substance Act at the Barrackpore police station and the boy’s body was sent for postmortem.
