West Bengal: Powerful explosion in TMC leader's abandoned house; no casualty

Kolkata: A powerful explosion damaged a portion of the abandoned two-storey house of a TMC leader in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district on Friday, triggering panic in the area, police said.

The blast took place around 2 am at the house of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Dwijen Mondal near Lal Pol in Uttarbhag area of Baruipur East, police said, quoting local residents.

The impact of the explosion was severe, with portions of the walls collapsing and the roof, doors and windows of the house being blown away.


Debris, including a shutter and tin sheets, was reportedly thrown as far as 200 metres from the site.

No casualty has been reported so far.

Police from Baruipur police station and a bomb disposal squad reached the spot and conducted searches.

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The area remained cordoned off as the teams looked for any other explosive materials, police sources said.

The BJP alleged that a large quantity of bombs had been stored inside the house and claimed that the explosion occurred due to the stockpiling of explosives.

BJP's Baruipur East-II mandal president Dipankar Karmakar alleged that party workers had earlier informed police about the presence of bombs on the premises, but no adequate search was conducted.

He claimed that Mondal, who was allegedly involved in political violence in the area, had left the locality after the recent Assembly elections.

"Where did such a large quantity of bombs come from? What was stored in the house? We demand an NIA probe," Karmakar said.