One cop killed, 4 others injured while defusing bombs in Puri

A policeman was killed and four others including two civilians, were injured while defusing bombs earlier seized from a village in Odisha's Puri district.

The victim was identified as Ranjan Kumar Sarangi, a havildar of the district bomb disposal squad. Other seriously injured persons were rushed to the district headquarter hospital, said Anup Kumar Sahu, the superintendent of police (SP), Puri. Earlier in the day, following a tip off, the district police had seized 53 crude bombs and 12 detonators from an abandoned hut in Gambhari village at the bank of Chilika Lake. The seized explosive materials were shifted to Brahmagiri police station with help of the bomb disposal squad.

"However, one of the bombs went off despite keeping it inside water for several hours," the SP said adding that no one was arrested on charge of storing the explosive materials.

Gambhari village was in news recently due to a group clash after the panchayat polls in March where about 50 houses were gutted. Police suspected that the explosives were stored at the village for creating further disturbance at the village.