Kolkata Nagerbazar blast: 1 killed, 9 injured in explosion; TMC blames BJP, RSS

A seven-year-old child was killed and at least nine persons were injured in a low-intensity blast in Kolkata's Nagerbazar area on Tuesday. The explosion took place around 9 am outside a shop in front of a multi-storey building in Nagerbazar and ripped through nearby shops, shattered windowpanes of houses and damaged a walkway.

Ammonium nitrate was used in the low-intensity blast. ANI photo

KOLKATA: A seven-year-old child was killed and at least nine persons were injured in a low-intensity blast in Kolkata's Nagerbazar area on Tuesday. The explosion took place around 9 am outside a shop in front of a multi-storey building in Nagerbazar and ripped through nearby shops, shattered windowpanes of houses and damaged a walkway. Bibhash Gosh, who was severely injured in the blast, died in hospital. Her mother also sustained injuries. Quoting Deputy Commissioner of Police, Barrackpore Commissionerate, Ananda Roy, PTI said ammonium nitrate was used in the low-intensity blast outside a fruit shop on the ground floor of the building in the congested Kazipara locality under the jurisdiction of Dum Dum police station. "A child, who was severely injured in the blast, died in hospital. A total of nine persons are injured," he said. Another police officer said it was a socket bomb explosion and the forensic team and the bomb squad of CID are examining the spot. Soon after the incident, the ruling Trinamool Congress held BJP responsible for the explosion and claimed the blast was aimed to kill South Dum Dum Municipality chairman and TMC leader Panchu Roy. "I think they tried to target me. Today is October 2, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi. We all know which group was involved in Gandhiji's killing. I will not be surprised if that same group is involved in this blast," IANS quoted Gopal Roy as saying. "I think this type of blast is similar to the ones carried out by RSS elsewhere," Roy told ANI. TMC minister Jyotipriyo Mullick also blamed the saffron party for the blast and termed it a "conspiracy to kill Roy". "I urge all our councillors to arrange for their own protection. The BJP is trying to kill them in broad daylight. I am speechless. How can a political party, which is in power at the Centre, do such things? They are doing it everywhere. Now our boys will give them a befitting answer politically," he said. Rubbishing the allegations, BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said it has become a "mania" for the TMC to blame the saffron party for every untoward incident in the state. Ghosh alleged that TMC party offices have become a "storehouse of bombs". Union Minister Kiren Rijiju also slammed the TMC saying: "They keep making statements like these. They speak so because of political reasons".