Crude bomb goes off at anganwadi centre, 1 injured

An anganwadi centre at Dangalpara village under Lokpur police station in Birbhum was blown up in a blast, triggering tension in the area. The impact of the blast was so high that it led to the collapse of a concrete slab of an adjacent building injuring a college student who was asleep inside the house.

The college student, Sheikh Jainal who was asleep was injured when the high intensity blast led to the collapse of a portion of a building. He sustained injuries all over his body and was admitted to the hospital.

Senior officials of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) reached the spot and started an inquiry in this regard. The villagers, however, demanded that National Investigation Agency (NIA) should carry out an investigation into the matter.

The anganwadi centre was housed in a single storey building, situated in a densely populated area at Dangalpara. The villagers said that the blast took place in the wee hours around 1.30 am on Thursday.

The blast was so intense that the sound could be heard from a distance of 400 metre and the concrete slabs of the building situated within the 100 metre distance from the spot was blown up.

The blast has blown the anganwadi centre to the grounds with only a portion of a wall standing.

According to the preliminary investigation police suspect that a huge cache and crude bombs were stocked by some miscreants at the anganwadi centre.

The bombs suddenly exploded on late Wednesday night. The investigating officers suspect that bombs and were kept hidden inside a pack in the ceiling. The bombs might have fallen on the ground and the explosion took place.

Police suspect that some local goons might have kept the bombs inside the house which could have been used at the time of clashes. Gang rivalry over the domination of the area has been a common phenomenon in the area. 

For this the miscreants often pile bombs to attack the members of the rival group, said the villagers.

Following the incident, a huge contingent of police reached the spot and started a probe of whether any improvised devices were used in the blast.

Police had cordoned the entire area. Bomb squad personnel reached the spot and carried out search operation to see if any other bombs were under the debris. A forensic team from the city had later visited the spot to collect the samples so that the nature of blast could be determined.

The district police administration however remained tight lipped and did not divulge the exact nature of the blast. But according the experts it was a high intensity blast because otherwise the adjacent building could not have been impacted by the incident.