Two pedestrians were injured by the splinter of bombs hurled by some anti-socials at Kasba's Suin Ho Lane on Tuesday morning.
They were crossing the road when thesplinters hit them. Police learnt that two rival groups of anti-socials were hurling bombs at each other. The incident happened during that clash.
Palas Jana and Babu Halder, two injured persons were taken to a hospital. They were admitted there in critical condition.
Police started a case. They have initiated an investigation. But no one was arrested till Tuesday night. The local people, however, shut their doors and did not come out of the house due to fear.
Police learnt that the clash started at slum number 16 at Kasba. Few people started altercating over possession of a public toilet on Monday night. Later, two groups of anti-socials got involved in the brawl.
The clash between the two rival groups started on Monday night. But later the problem was solved quite late on the same night.
On Tuesday morning, clash again broke out at Kasba. Two groups started throwing bombs at each other when Palas Jana and Babu Halder received splinter injuries.
The clash spread over Talbagan and Katapukur area as well. The local residents, who were out for work in the morning, spotted some local criminals hurling bombs at each other. Police came to know that some criminals – Sona, Pappu, Raja and Joydeb were involved in the incident.
A large contingent of police force from Kasba police station and Lalbazar reached the spot under the leadership of senior officers. They surrounded the area. Police also detained some of the people from the spot for interrogation.
Local residents had a harrowing experience. "I was going to the market to buy vegetables. I heard the loud sounds of exploding bombs. I could have been one of the victims," said an elderly resident of the area.
It may be mentioned that six persons were injured with one of them critically when a clash broke out between two groups over playing of loud speakers. The incident occurred at Bilaspur village under English Bazar police station in Malda last Friday night.
Both the groups have lodged a complaint in the police station against each other. Police said that a section of villagers protested against the playing of loudspeakers on the occasion of Saraswati puja. After this, a heated altercation broke out between the puja organisers and some local residents when the latter asked them to stop playing the loud speakers.