Bomb Explosion Kills Teenager In Bengal, BJP MP Blocks Road Demanding NIA Probe

As MP Locket Chatterjee blamed TMC for the blast, a spokesperson of the ruling party described the incident as unfortunate and accused the former of politicising a situation involving a child's death.

New Delhi: A teenage boy was killed and two others were injured in a bomb explosion in West Bengal's Hooghly district on Monday. 

According to a PTI report, the incident occurred at Pandua in Hooghly district around 8.30am, near a pond where a group of boys was playing. Police said one of the boys succumbed to his injuries at a hospital in Pandua while two others injured were transferred to a healthcare facility in Chinsurah for better treatment. The matter is being investigated, police added.

After the incident, Hooghly MP Locket Chatterjee of the BJP, accompanied by hundreds of party workers, blocked the arterial GT road for over two hours, demanding an NIA probe into the blast. She alleged that "goons" of the ruling Trinamool Congress were involved in the blast, as part of a plan to create an air of panic ahead of TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee's campaign in the area later in the day.

"Along with the people of Pandua, I demand justice for the families of the innocent boys. The state police are incapable of conducting a thorough, impartial probe into the incident. We want an NIA probe," she said, as quoted by PTI.

When police asked Chatterjee to lift the blockade, an altercation reportedly ensued.

Trinankur Bhattacharya, a TMC spokesperson, described the incident as unfortunate and clarified that it had no political connotations.

He emphasised that the police were conducting an investigation into the matter. Bhattacharya also criticised Chatterjee, accusing her of politicising a situation involving the death of a child.

Bengal Marred By Poll Violence 

Sporadic violence was witnessed in West Bengal, a state notorious for political violence, during the first phase of elections on April 19, when three constituencies in north Bengal, Coochbehar, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar, voted.

A Trinamool Congress block president sustained injuries and was hospitalised in the Dinhata area, while a BJP worker was attacked with a sickle-like weapon while he was on his way to vote in Sitalkuchi, Coochbehar.