WB: Two dead in blast at TMC booth president's residence in Medinipur

Bhupatinagar area, where the incident occurred, is only 1.5 km from Contai town where TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee is scheduled to address a public meeting on Saturday.

Medinipur (West Bengal):Two people were killed and several others injured in an alleged crude bomb blast at the residence of Trinamool Congress booth president Rajkumar Manna in West Bengal’s Bhupatinagar area in Purba Medinipur district. The site of the blast is also suspiciously close to leader Abhishek Banerjee's scheduled rally in West Bengal's Purba Medinipur district, police said on Saturday.

Bhupatinagar area, where the incident occurred, is only 1.5 km from Contai town where TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee is scheduled to address a public meeting on Saturday. "The blast was reported in a house around 11.15 pm on Friday and two bodies were recovered on Saturday morning. A few others are injured."

"The cause of the blast is yet to be ascertained and further investigation is underway but the impact was so powerful that the mud house with a thatched roof was blown off in the incident," the senior police officer of Contain sub-division said, adding a forensic team has reached the spot to collect samples.

Holding the TMC responsible for the incident, the BJP national vice president Dilip Ghosh said that "only bomb-making industry is flourishing in the state". Senior CPI (M) leader Sujan Chakraborty also took a dig at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee questioning her silence on the incident and demanding a statement.

TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said it is very easy for the opposition to blame the ruling party in West Bengal without any evidence.

Meanwhile, the leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari took to Twitter to highlight the incident. "TMC Booth President Rajkumar and 2 others died last evening while urgently making the bombs, as these bombs were intended to be hurled at Contai. Bombs are WB's most successful Cottage Industry products and are widely produced in TMC leaders' homes across Bengal," Suvendu Adhikari tweeted.