Explosion In Bengal's Rejinagar Ahead Of Bypolls, Cops Recover Bombs

An explosion rocked the Naopukuria area in West Bengal's Murshidabad district on Tuesday evening, weeks ahead of the October 6 Rejinagar assembly bypoll, police said.

The police also recovered bombs from a container in the area which falls under the Rejinagar assembly constituency, according to police sources.

No casualties have been reported in the incident so far.

Locals said a loud explosion was heard in Naopukuria under Beldanga police station late in the evening, following which the area was covered with smoke. People rushed towards a nearby water body from where the sound was heard, but none was found.

Some locals claimed that unidentified persons were allegedly making bombs near the pond when the explosion occurred.

Others said a large number of bombs had been stored inside a container near the water body and may have exploded due to the intense heat.

A Beldanga police station officer said a preliminary investigation indicated that some bombs had been stored inside a container near the waterbody.

"Apparently, a brick fell on the container from above, following which the bombs exploded," the officer said.

Police are investigating the circumstances leading to the incident.

BJP Baharampur organisational district president Malay Mahajan alleged that stockpiling bombs and firearms was a practice followed by a section of opposition parties ahead of elections.

"Some people prefer bullets over ballots. Perhaps, following their old practice, they had stocked bombs and firearms or wanted to send some message to the BJP, which is the ruling party in the state," Mahajan said.

He said people had rejected the politics of bullets and would respond to such violence through the ballot.

The Rejinagar assembly seat is among two constituencies in West Bengal where bypolls are scheduled to be held on October 6. The other is Nandigram.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)