Denying the allegation that the Trinamool Congress had links with the blast at Khagragarh in Bardhaman (Burdwan) district last Thursday, party general secretary Mukul Roy said the investigation was following normal procedure. He lauded the police administration for a “proper and fast” investigation.
Two persons were killed and another was injured in the blast.
Earlier in the day, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) charged the Trinamool with having links with the blast.
“How do we know if the BJP and the CPI(M) are not linked with the blast and is trying to create unrest in the State?” Mr. Roy asked. He alleged that the Opposition was making “irresponsible comments.” “Biman Bose, CPI(M) State secretary, and the BJP are trying to disturb the peace and thus denigrate the government ... by making irresponsible statements.”
Denying the allegation that the house where the blast occurred had a Trinamool office, Mr. Roy said it must be “substantiated.”
“Local people would have known, if the house had the Trinamool office. Electronic media would have filmed ... do you have any footage that establishes that the house had (party) office,” he asked.
“One may cook any allegation but it has to be substantiated. In the Babri Masjid demolition case, many allegations were made against BJP leaders, but nothing materialised,” he said.
BJP chargeBJP leader Siddharth Nath Singh said at a press conference in Delhi that Bangladeshi infiltrators had rented the housed. Mr. Singh said: “The local police destroyed all evidence” to “cover up the incident” so that the Trinamool remained “above suspicion.”
“The local police collected samples and destroyed it within seven hours. The evidence included mobile phones, ID, IM proofs and al-Qaeda’s jihadi literature. Since the Central forces were informed late, they could not reach on time. All these raise questions on the Mamata Banerjee government,” Mr. Singh said.
Central agency sources told The Hindu that their officials were not allowed entry into the house even two days after the explosion. However, West Bengal Home Secretary Basudeb Banerjee denied “non-cooperation” with the Central agencies.
West Bengal Left Front committee chairperson Biman Basu quoted newspaper reports to say pamphlets of “banned Muslim fundamentalist organisation” were recovered from the house. Later, the CPI(M) said in a statement that the Trinamool office was located in the house. “Soon after the explosion, the signboard of the Trinamool Congress was removed ... local people alleged that that the police tried to block the probe initially,” Mr. Bose said.
