3 killed in blast in Bengal's South 24 Parganas

A residential building was blown up because the owner had stacked huge amounts of illegal explosives possibly for making firecrackers

Three people were killed and as many injured in an explosion at an illegal firecracker manufacturing unit in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district on Wednesday, police said.

The incident triggered a political storm, with the BJP accusing the TMC of "stockpiling" explosives to unleash violence, and the ruling party in the state alleging that the saffron party was doing "cheap politics" over a firecracker explosion.

The explosion took place around 8 am in a two-storey house that belonged to one Ashim Mondal in Nodakhali area of the district, a senior police officer said.

One fire tender was rushed to the spot to douse the flames at the building, a portion of which was blown off in the incident.

"There were three explosions at the house. Bodies of the house owner, one woman and another person, who was working at the factory, have been recovered," the officer said.

Three others who were injured in the explosion have been shifted to a local hospital, he said.

The condition of one of the injured is quite "critical", the officer said.

"It seems one of his hands was ripped off in the blast. His condition is quite critical. Doctors are attending to him," the officer said.

Some buildings in the neighbourhood are also learnt to have suffered damage. A probe has been initiated into the incident, the officer said.

Reacting to the incident, BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh said that the blast proved that West Bengal was sitting on a powder keg.

"We have reasons to believe that the explosives were being stored to create disturbances in Diamond Harbour and other areas of the district. Earlier, similar incidents have happened in North 24 Parganas and elsewhere. The state police turns a blind eye to such recurring incidents, and no proper investigation takes place," Ghosh told reporters.

Leader of Opposition in Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, alleged that South 24 Parganas district has turned into a hub of jihadis from neighbouring Bangladesh.

"Gory horrific images emanating from Budge Budge; South 24 Parganas; where an illegal explosive factory got destroyed due to explosion. People died, house destroyed, area terrorised. This district has become the hub of JMB and jehadis from Bangladesh," the Nandigram MLA tweeted.

TMC MLA from Budge Budge, Ashok Deb, said, "Police is investigating the firecracker blast at a house."

"The BJP is doing cheap politics and adding political colour to an accident which is being investigated by the police," a district TMC leader said.

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