Dec 3, 2022: An explosion was reported in the early hours of Saturday at the residence of a Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader in the Bhagabanpur region of West Bengal’s East Medinipur district. The explosion occurred approximately 40 kilometres from Contai in East Midnapore, the site of senior TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee’s scheduled rally in the district today.
The blast was reported at a Trinamool Congress’s booth president’s house in Naryabila village around 11.15 pm on Friday. The house was also damaged due to the explosion, officials said.
A bomb blast killed at least three people, including block president Rajkumar Manna, his brother Debkumar Manna, and another person identified as Biswajit Gayen.
According to local police, two other people who were severely injured in the blast were rushed to a local hospital in the neighbouring West Midnapore district.
An Official said “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.”
Suvendu Adhikari, the opposition leader in the West Bengal Assembly, claimed that TMC leader Rajkumar Manna was “making bombs” at his home when a powerful explosion occurred, implicating the TMC in the incident.
In response to the news, BJP national vice president Dilip Ghosh stated that “only the bomb-making industry is flourishing in the state.”
TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh stated that it is very easy for the opposition to blame the ruling party in West Bengal without any evidence.
West Bengal is set to hold panchayat elections early next year, and police have launched statewide sweeps that have resulted in the recovery of homemade bombs and weapons across the state before the elections.
