Bengal Congress chief visits pingla where 12 persons were killed in explosion, demands NIA probe

KOLKATA: West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Monday visited the Brahmanbar village in West Midnapore's Pingla block and demanded a NIA investigation into the blast in which 12 persons, most of whom were children, had been killed early on May 7. Chowdhury was accompanied by former state Congress chief and party MLA, Manas Bhunia.

Speaking to ET, Chowdhury said that "the ruling Trinamool Congress and it's police force are solely responsible for the blast in which 12 persons, eight of whom were minors, had been killed. The police was well aware of the illegal fire works factory at Brahmanbar village. But they could not take any action as the factory was being run by one of the close associates of the ruling party. The CID is now probing the case. But we don't have any faith on the CID and we demand a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA)."

Bhunia, who had visited the spot immediately after the incident took place, however, demanded a combing operation in Pingla, Sabong and the adjoining areas by the police to recover illegal fire arms from the miscreants who were enjoying ruling party's patronage.

"Most parts of our state have now become den of illegal fire arms. Miscreants owing allegiance to Trinamool Congress are running many unauthorised fire arms factories in the state and it should be stopped immediately," Bhunia told ET.

The BJP had also demanded NIA probe into the Pingla blast case. A few days back, a team of Left intellectuals had also visited the village. Another explosion had taken place in the same Brahmanbar village during their visit.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has not yet visited Pingla, but announced compensation for the families of those who were killed in the explosion. Families of those who got killed in the blast will get Rs 2 lakhs and those who were injured will get Rs 50,000.

Interestingly, NIA officials had already visited the spot and had talked to the state-run CID which is probing the case. But the Central agency has not yet launched any probe into the incident despite demands from different political parties excluding the ruling Trinamool Congress.