Crude explosive material and timer devices were detected at the nick of time inside the passenger compartment of a local train in Howrah station on Saturday afternoon. The police are yet to ascertain whether the explosives were meant to go off in the crowded Gudap-bound 103-UP EMU local or were being transported to some other destination. The CID’s bomb-detection squad found 250 gm of light explosive, three batteries, wires and a watch from the cardboard box containing the “bomb”. The squad later took the material for further examination.According to Alokesh Roy, station manager, Howrah, passengers detected the cardboard box in the train’s sixth compartment at about 4.30 pm. Left unattended, the box was kept under a passenger seat, he said.“The passengers saw some wires coming out of the box and raised an alarm,” Roy said. “We have increased security cover at the station. We have no information yet about the type of bomb or whether it was live.”Roy said the railway authorities took every precaution to prevent panic among passengers.After Government Railway Police (GRP) sleuths evacuated passengers from the train, the entire area was cordoned off and the CID’s bomb-disposal squad was called in. And even as a crowd gathered on the platform for a glimpse of the chain of events, it also led to panic among a section, with many passengers running out of the station. Seeing the state of alarm, the station authorities made repeated announcements through the public address system, asking the public to maintain calm. A railway spokesman later said the train on the Howrah-Burdwan section left for its destination at 5.10 pm. Gudap is about 100 km from Howrah.
