Kolkata (The Hawk): In East Midnapore district, three people were murdered in an explosion near the ancestral home of West Bengal Assembly Opposition Leader Suvendu Adhikari.
The explosion occurred late on Friday night, a few hours before the scheduled rally of Abhishek Banerjee, national general secretary and party MP for the Trinamool Congress.
The tragedy occurred at the residence of Trinamool Congress booth president Ramkumar Manna, where he also perished.
Other two victims of the explosion were identified as Rajkumar's cousin Debkumar Manna and Biswajit Gayen's cousin Biswajit Gayen.
According to local police reports, two more critically injured victims of the explosion were brought to a nearby hospital in the region of West Midnapore.
Even though the entire area had been sealed off by the police since Friday in preparation for Abhishek Banerjee's protest, questions were raised regarding the security precautions. A large police detachment has roped off not only the place where the national secretary of the Trinamool Congress is scheduled to hold the rally, but also the ancestral home of the opposition leader, to avoid any untoward occurrence from occurring during the protest.
Officers maintain complete silence over the probable cause of the explosion. However, political mudslinging has begun in response to the tragic event.
According to Rabindranath Maiti, the local Bhagabanpur assembly seat representative for the BJP, the explosion occurred due to the crude bomb-making explosives stored at the residence of Manna.
Maiti said that the local authority is attempting to cover up the entire episode.
However, the state general secretary of Trinamool Congress and the party's spokesman, Kunal Ghosh, refuted the claims and stated that local BJP members carried out the explosion in order to generate tension in the area prior to Abhishek Banerjee's rally.
In recent days, the BJP has been attempting to sow discord in the region. Their leaders, escorted by members of the Central armed forces, attempted to bring bombs into the region, Ghosh claimed.
(Inputs from Agencies)