Crude bombs recovered, later defused in Bengal's Bogtui village

Kolkata, April 3

Several crude bombs were recovered on Sunday near the residence of Palash Sheikh, the prime accused of the March 21 carnage in Bogtui village of West Bengal's Birbhum district.

The bombs were later defused.

The villagers had informed the police about the bombs. The personnel from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the bomb squad of West Bengal Police reached the spot and cordoned off the area. A team of the state fire services department also reached the spot.

The police dug out a container and recovered at least 20 crude bombs. The bomb squad personnel carried the crude bombs to an adjacent open space and defused them one by one.

The police have started search operations in different pockets of the village to track more hidden bombs.

Since the March 21 massacre that killed nine persons, including the deputy chief of the local Boroshal Village panchayat, Vadu Sheikh, the accused Palash Sheikh has been missing. The members of the special investigation team (SIT) of the state police as well as sleuths of the CBI have been carrying out massive search operations in search of Palash Sheikh.

Both Vadu Sheikh and Palash Sheikh were actively associated with the Trinamool Congress. Following the March 21 carnage, the leaders of the opposition parties in the state including the BJP, Left Front and Congress have been highlighting the internal feud within the state's ruling party.

Meanwhile, the members of the CBI team probing the Bogtui massacre have received information about certain vehicles, including a motorcycle through which the bombs and inflammable items used for the massacre, were ferried to Bogtui village on March 21. On Sunday, a team of CBI sleuths reached the Bogtui-adjacent Kumadda village where these vehicles were reportedly traced by the local people. The CBI sleuths also interacted with Shekhlal Sheikh and Mihilal Sheikh, the members of the victim families.

Meanwhile, a group of intellectuals in the state have written to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, expressing concern over the Bogtui massacre as well as other incidents of political violence in the state, including the recent murder of the student leader, Anis Khan, a resident of Amta Village in Howrah district.