Hours before TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee was to hold a rally at Contain in East Midnapore a bomb blast — barely 40 km from the rally venue — left three dead and as many others injured.
The blast occurred inside the house of local TMC booth president Rajkumar Manna of Nariabelia village of Bhupatinagar area sources said adding Manna and his brother Debkumar and another person Biswajit Gayen died in the blast.
The three persons’ charred bodies were recovered some one km away from Manna’s house which was blown off under the impact of the explosion.
While the police were tight-lipped about the blast locals alleged the blast occurred late on Friday night when the trio were making crude bombs reportedly for the forthcoming panchayat elections.
At least a dozen people including three children have died in at least 28 incidents of blasts and firing in the past one month leading the opposition parties to allege that the blasts were a result of TMC’s preparations for the coming panchayat elections.
While almost the entire house of the Mannas caved in under the impact of the blast the victim’s wife said soon after the blast some people barged into the house and ran away with the dead bodies of the victims which explained why the corpses were found about a km away from the place of incident.
Soon after the incident the BJP demanded and NIA investigation into the explosion while the Left. The district police administration however said that the cause of the blast was not yet known and investigations were on.