Day after the explosion at an illegal firecracker unit located at Egra in the East Midnapore district that claimed at least nine lives, two persons were arrested on Wednesday in connection with the case.
Police also registered an FIR in connection with the blast against the accused house owner Bhanu Bag and his family members.
A police team from Bengal has gone to Odisha where Bag is suspected to have fled after the incident.
Earlier, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had ordered a Criminal Investigation Department (CID) investigation into the incident. She also made it clear that she had no objection to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe in the case but reiterated that the real culprits must be brought to book.
The Chief Minister had announced a compensation of Rs 2.5 lakh to the kin of the deceased and one lakh each to the injured.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday forensic experts visited the spot for collecting samples which would be examined to find out what kind of explosive was stored inside the house.
This apart, the bomb squad of the state CID also visited the spot. Cops have learnt about two persons who used to store the explosives inside the house. On Wednesday afternoon, the accused duo, identified as Debsundar Jana and Tapan Debnath were arrested.
On Tuesday afternoon, an explosion took place inside the house of Bag at Egra’s Khadikul village. The intensity of the explosion was so high that the sound was audible from a distance of over a kilometre.
When cops from Egra Police Station reached the spot, villagers started agitating against their alleged negligence. They chased away the cops, including the Inspector in-Charge (IC) of the Egra Police Station Mousam Chakraborty, who was later show-caused as directed by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
A TMC delegation visited the families of the deceased on Wednesday. The team comprised minister Manas Bhunia and TMC leader Dola Sen among others. Bhunia said a conspiracy has been hatched against TMC while assuring that the accused will be punished.
Meanwhile, a political slugfest has erupted over the incident with BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari demanding the resignation of Mamata Banerjee who is also in charge of the Police department. The Trinamool has questioned how a person who himself is allegedly named in a CBI FIR can make such claims.
With the Calcutta High Court admitting the petition of Adhikari demanding an NIA probe into the Egra blast incident, Trinamool Congress leaders stated that Adhikari’s demand is “baseless” since the Chief Minister had already consented to such a probe while also questioning the need for a Central agency investigation when CID is already probing the matter.
TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh questioned: “Where was NIA during such cases in Uttar Pradesh? Where was NIA during the Prayagraj violence when people were killed in arson? Where were the Centre’s commissions then? Adhikari is already a CBI FIR-named extortionist who is desperately trying to stay in BJP’s good books.”