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Ex-students held for crude bomb explosion on roof of Bengal school
The West Bengal police said it seems the accused boys, aged between 17 and 18 years, had some grudge against the school authorities
The West Bengal police on Sunday arrested four boys, aged between 17 and 18 years, for allegedly throwing a crude bomb on the roof of a school in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas during the class hours on Saturday morning.
The bomb went off on the roof of the three-storied building of the Free India Boys’ High School in Titagarh area at 11am on Saturday, creating panic among the students and teachers.
“Three of the accused are former students of the school . During a raid, 10 similar crude bombs were recovered from the home of one of the suspects,” said Alok Rajoria, superintendent of Barrackpore police district .
“They hurled the bomb from the roof of the adjoining six-storied building. It seems the boys had some grudge against the school authorities. The motive was personal. The matter is under investigation,” he added.
Some of the suspects could be juveniles. Their age was being ascertained from official records.
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Nobody was injured in Saturday’s incident and there was no apparent damage to the school building.
The door to the roof always remains locked and the area is out of bounds for students, Hanif Tanvir, one of the teachers, said after the incident. “The sound of the explosion scared everybody,” he added.
Leader of the Opposition in the Bengal assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, said: “I will write a letter to Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday demanding a probe by the National Investigation Agency. I demanded NIA investigation in two other incidents and the government granted both. The Titagarh incident needs to be probed as well.”
The incident triggered panic as Titagarh is known for violence and criminal activities. Crude bombs were used in several political clashes during and after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Arjun Singh, who represents the local Barrackpore Lok Sabha seat, visited the school. “The police have been urged to arrest local criminals and step up vigil. Police investigations depend too much on phone tracking these days. Criminals, too, have become tech savvy,” he said.
Singh won the seat after switching over to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but returned to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in May after a three-year stint in the saffron camp.
