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Bombs buried next to house of accused in Birbhum case seized
According to the police, the bombs were found buried next to the residence of Palash Sheikh -- an absconding accused in Bhadu Sheikh’s murder case.
The police on Sunday recovered crude bombs from Bogtui village in Bengal’s Birbhum, where seven people were killed following the killing of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Bhadu Sheikh.
According to the police, the bombs were found buried next to the residence of Palash Sheikh -- an absconding accused in Bhadu Sheikh’s murder case. A team of police officers, accompanied by a bomb squad, defused the bombs through a controlled explosion in an open field, said a district police official who did not want to be named. The entire operation took place in front of the media. The district police superintendent, Nagendra Nath Tripathi, was not available for comment.
Violence had broken out in Bogtui on March 21 following the murder of Bhadu Sheikh, with miscreants attacking houses and setting them on fire, leaving eight people dead, including children. One woman succumbed to her burn injuries on March 28, taking the toll to nine.
The massacre is being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) following an order by the Calcutta high court on March 25. Bhadu Sheikh’s murder is being investigated by the state police. As many as 22 people have been arrested in the arson case so far and six held for Bhadu Sheikh’s murder.
On March 27, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said that the attackers and the victims all belonged to her party. The villagers and relatives of the victims have alleged that Bhadu Sheikh’s murder was the fallout of his old enmity with a rival group of the TMC over a share of profit from sand and stone quarries and extortion from transporters. His elder brother, Babar Sheikh, was murdered in the same village in January 2021.
