2 personnel injured after stored crackers burst at police station

Kolkata: Two police personnel were injured after a pile of seized illegal fire crackers burst inside Dantan police station on Sunday evening. They were rushed to Dantan Hospital with serious burn injuries. Later, they were shifted to Midnapore Medical College and Hospital in a critical condition.

According to sources, Dantan police station had seized a good quantity of banned fire crackers and stored them inside the 'malkhana' of the police station during Kali Puja last year. On Sunday, it was decided to clean the 'malkhana' as it had become dirty and was left in an untidy condition for several days. Two police personnel identified as Dibyendu Acharya and Ashis Das were engaged to clean it. In the evening, while the cleaning was in progress, the crackers burst when Acharya and Das were removing them to clean the portion.

Other police personnel of Dantan police station rushed to the 'malkhana' and found Acharya and Das to be lying on the ground with severe burn injuries. They were immediately rushed to Dantan Hospital where first aid was given to them. Later, they were shifted to Midnapore Medical College and Hospital as their condition deteriorated. Question arose on why those firecrackers were stored inside the 'malkhana'. According to the regulations, seized firecrackers must be disposed of in presence of the fire brigade personnel.