Kolkata: One person was killed, while five others were critically injured in an explosion that rocked the Trinamool Congress office at West Midnapore’s Narayangarh village on Thursday.
The incident took place at around 8.20am when the party workers had gathered at the office for a meeting to discuss the formation of panchayat boards. The blast was so powerful that the single-storied concrete party office was completely blown up.
The deceased was identified as Sudipta Ghosh, a resident of Mokrampur village.
Three of the five injured were rushed to a nearby government hospital, while two were reportedly shifted to a hospital in Odisha’s Cuttack.
Speaking to News18, superintendent of police Alok Rajoria said, “There was an explosion which claimed one life and left five others injured. We have cordoned off the area and started an inquiry in the matter. So far no one has been arrested in this connection.” Several police personnel were deployed in the area to assist the forensic team in collecting samples from the spot.
Narayangarh’s TMC block president Mihir Chanda said, “We suspect that our (TMC’s) zila parishad member Surja Kanta Atta is behind the incident. For the past few months, he has been terrorising party workers to gain control of the operations in Narayangarh. We have informed our senior party leaders about him as well as the infighting here.”
He added, “I heard that at the time of the explosion, Atta was standing outside the party office while his supporters were inside so he survived and is now absconding.” Atta was not available for comments despite repeated attempts.
West Midnapur BJP president Samit Kumar Das said, “Not only at Narayangarh, I would like to request the local administration to conduct raids at all the party offices in the districts and I am sure they will find a large number of explosives, arms and ammunition. TMC leaders are terrorising villagers and they are suspected to be behind the incident.”
TMC chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee had reprimanded party workers in Narayangarh in March this year over reports of infighting and asked them to work together for the betterment of people.
A similar explosion had occurred in a two-storied building in Khagragarh locality of Burdwan on October 2, 2014. The building was owned by Nurul Hasan Chowdhury, reportedly a leader of the Trinamool Congress, and its ground floor was used as the party office. The BJP had then alleged that the TMC was sheltering Bangladeshi terrorists in Bengal. The case was later take over by the NIA and several arrests were made.
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