At least eight persons were killed and 10 others injured when crude bombs went off while they were being made in West Bengal’s Birbhum district on Friday, police said. The incident took place in Darbarpur village in the Labhpur town of the district.
“An explosion took place when some people were making crude bombs,” Superintendent of Police (SP) of Birbhum N. Sudheer Kumar told The Hindu . He said the casualties were likely to increase.
Asked whether the explosion was the outcome of a rivalry between two groups from Darbarpur and the neighbouring village of Mirbandh over illegal sand mining, the SP avoided a direct reply.
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Eight arrested
“There are some rivalries in the area and clashes had been going on since Friday morning. However, police quickly reached the spot and brought the situation under control. Eight persons have been arrested so far,” the SP said.
However, local residents claimed that the deaths were the fall-out of a clash between two groups over extortion in connection with illegal sand mining. “They [those involved in the clash] were from the Trinamool Congress,” a resident claimed.
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Denying the charges, Trinamool Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal, however, alleged that “goons” of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) were behind the clash.
“There is no factional feud in the Trinamool in Birbhum. CPI-M’s goons are responsible for the incident,” he said.
According to local Opposition leaders, illegal sand mining has become not only a serious law and order issue in Birbhum but also a key reason behind the factional feud in the ruling party. They alleged that the mines were “controlled” by local Trinamool leaders.
Local residents said there were about 80 illegal sand mines in Birbhum, out of which about 30 were located on the banks of the Mayurakshi river, while about 25 were near the Ajay river. About 25 other illegal sand mines were also known to exist on the banks of Bakreshwar, Chandrabhaga, Dwarka and Bhrahmani rivers, they said.