Kolkata, Jul 18 (PTI) A blast in a residential area on the eastern fringes of Kolkata partially damaged a building, with police suspecting that explosives used in making crude bombs might have caused the incident.
At least one person was injured in the explosion that took place in the Dakshin Narayanpur area of Rajarhat on Friday evening, causing panic among residents of the building and in the neighbourhood.
A team of NIA officials visited the site on Saturday afternoon, inspected the blast site and spoke to the locals of the densely populated Suparibagan area of Rajarhat.
Officials said the central agency, which took suo motu cognisance of the incident, held a preliminary investigation in the aftermath of the explosion and will submit its report to the Union home ministry, although the responsibility of the probe remained with the local New Town police station.
“Based on the report, the MHA will decide whether or not to hand over the investigation to the NIA,” an official said.
Police on Saturday said one person has been detained for questioning, while the prime suspect, Md Shamim alias Salim, a resident of the Kamarhati area of North 24 Parganas district, was on the run.
Earlier in the day, personnel of the Bengal fire services department, the special task force of the state police and the CID’s bomb disposal squad reached the spot to sanitise the affected building.
“We have recovered two bombs, but it cannot be ascertained whether they are live or inert. We will defuse them as per protocol,” a police officer said.
Fragments of multiple crude bombs and raw material for making explosives were recovered from the blast site, police said.
Zulfikar Ansari, the owner of the building where the blast occurred, said Salim had recently approached him through a local broker to rent a room in the building, which houses other tenants as well.
Although no written tenancy agreement was signed between the two parties, Ansari had granted Salim access to the property to clean up the space before renting.
“The tenant was supposed to start living at the property from Monday. He was introduced to me by a local broker, Shahenshah, connected to the BJP. I did not grant the tenant full access to the property until I drew up the tenancy agreement and informed the police about his stay.
“I only allowed him to visit the place to clean up the room. The blast happened even before I could get those formalities done,” Ansari claimed.
Police have detained Shahenshah to gain information about the suspect who is absconding.
CCTV footage from inside the building revealed that the blast took place at around 8 pm on Friday, minutes after a local youth placed a white jute bag inside the room that was supposed to be rented.
The youth told the police that the bag was handed to him by Salim, who gave him the room key and asked him to keep it in his room, saying it contained food items.
“I never peeked into the bag. I kept it where the man had asked me to and was sitting with a friend outside the house when the explosion happened. My friend and I were injured. When we went to look for the man, he had run away,” the youth said. PTI SMY NSD
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