Kolkata blast: Police rule out terrorist involvement

City police ruled out any terrorist involvement in the explosion that killed four persons, saying it was caused by abandoned shell.

City Police Commissioner Goutam Mohan Chakraborty ruled out any terrorist involvement in the explosion that killed four persons in the Chitpur area on Sunday evening, saying it was caused by an abandoned shell collected by ragpickers.

“This is a mere accident. The explosion occurred in an abandoned shell. There is no terrorist involvement. I would tell the residents of this city not to panic unnecessarily,” he told newsmen at the explosion site tonight.

Pointing out that ragpickers often collected ammunition shells abandoned by ordnance factories thinking they could extract brass from it, he said a similar shell was retrieved by the victims earlier in the day from the Hooghly.

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“In the evening, some of them tried to break the shell with a hammer when the explosion occurred. This is very sad,” the Police Commissioner said.

While stating that four persons were killed in the explosion, he said however, that six were injured, one of whom were released after first aid.

Earlier, Additional Commissioner of Police (1) S N Sarkar, had put the number of injured at nine.

Police personnel seen to control the situation during a massive protest over the statehood demand and the inclusion of Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule, in Leh on Wednesday. (ANI Video Grab)

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