Probe on after crude bomb explosion on school roof in Titagarh

However, there was no casualty as students and teachers were in rooms located on the first two floors of the three-storied building, they said.

The students got panicked hearing the sound of the explosion and left the premises helter-skelter, while teachers went upstairs to find bomb splinters close to the roof, according to a managing committee member of the state-aided institute at Titagarh in the industrial belt of the district.

A top official of Barrackpore Police Commissionerate told reporters after visiting the spot that the blast was caused by a single crude bomb. Police said that they were investigating whether the bomb was hurled from nearby buildings or it had been kept on the roof of the school, located in a densely populated area, and suddenly went off.

Khaled Taiyab, a schoolteacher, said, “We were sitting in the staff room when we heard a loud explosion. At first, we thought there was a bomb explosion outside the school. But soon we noticed smoke on the school’s roof. On the roof, we found an exploded bomb and scattered splinters that were collected by police. Had the explosion taken place during the launch time, it would have resulted in the loss of lives.”

Barrackpore MP Arjun Singh told reporters at the spot that whoever was responsible for the blast would have to be arrested and punished. Questioning the law and order situation in the state under the TMC rule, BJP’s Hooghly MP Locket Chatterjee demanded a CBI probe into the incident. “Even school children are not safe in the rule of Mamata Banerjee. Bombs are discovered in houses and party offices across West Bengal. Today’s incident is a pointer to the grim law and order situation. We don’t have faith in the state police or CID. We want CBI probe to unravel the truth,” said Chatterjee.

—WITH PTI INPUTS