Kolkata: Three Trinamul Congress (TMC) workers including two members from the same family died while several others were injured in a massive bomb explosion in East Midnapore of West Bengal late on Friday night.
The spot of the blast was near the venue of a rally addressed by their party's national general secretary and chief minister Mamata Banerjee's MP nephew Abhishek Banerjee hours later at Contai of the district on Saturday to train guns on leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari in his home turf.
The three victims were Raj Kumar Manna, a TMC booth president of Bhagabanpur Block II, his cousin brother Deb Kumar Manna and their party colleague Bishwajit Gayen.
The explosion took place at the house of the Mannas with a deafening sound which shook Narua Birla village of Bhupatinagar at around 11.15 pm on Friday.
The impact of the blast was so heavy that it not only blew off the mud house with a thatched roof but also flew away the victims. The charred bodies of the Manna brothers and Gayen were later found lying at a distance of one and half kms and 500 meters from the spot respectively, according to the villagers.
The police suspect that the victims along with others were trying to make crude bombs for the Panchayat Election which is due in next few months in the state.
Posting the photos of the affected house Mr Adhikari tweeted, "3 Dead & 2 others grievously injured as TMC Leader's house blows up in explosion at Bhupatinagar, Bhagabanpur ii Block, Purba Medinipur District.
TMC leader Rajkumar Manna was making bombs at his home when this high intensity explosion happened. I demand @NIA_IndiaInvestigation."
He alleged, "Bombs are WB's most successful Cottage Industry products & are widely produced in TMC leaders' homes across Bengal." The Nandigram BJP MLA later attacked the CM and her nephew in Diamond Harbour, the Lok Sabha seat of Mr Banerjee.
TMC Rajya Sabha MP Santanu Sen however accused the BJP of attacking Mr Manna's house and triggering the blast to spoil Mr Banerjee's rally.
