india

Updated: Jul 04, 2019 17:48 IST

At least 12 persons were injured in clashes between Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party supporters in Howrah and Birbhum districts of West Bengal since Wednesday night, police said. An abandoned hospital building was also destroyed by explosives stockpiled inside the single-storied structure in Birbhum.

At Uluberia in Howrah, eight people, including two women, were injured in a clash between TMC and BJP workers on Wednesday night. BJP workers claimed that they were attacked for demanding a ban on illegal liquor trade in the area. TMC leaders said the clash was the fallout of a dispute between two local clubs and had no link with politics.

A powerful blast destroyed a small one-storied structure inside the Darka primary health centre campus around 3 am on Thursday at Labhpur in Birbhum district. There were no casualties. Police suspect that criminals had hidden explosives inside the abandoned building.

“We have started an investigation,” said Shyam Singh, superintendent of police, Birbhum. Incidentally, there is a police camp close to the health centre. It was set up in 2017 after nine people were killed in a blast at Darbarpur near Darka.

BJP leaders claimed that their supporters were attacked at Jamrulia in the Sadaipur area of Birbhum while they were having a meeting at a party office. Mustaq Haque, a local BJP leader said, “TMC-backed goons hurdled bombs, injuring four men.” The injured men were taken to Suri district hospital. TMC leaders claimed that their party was not involved in the attack.

Birbhum has been in the news in the recent past because of rampant use of explosives in political clashes and criminal activities. On Sunday, a local club in a densely populated area in Mallarpur town was demolished in an explosion but there were no casualties. TMC district president Anubrata Mondal alleged that BJP workers stored bombs in the building.

BJP and TMC leaders hurled allegations at each other on Thursday. “TMC workers stockpiled bombs so that these could be used against us later,” said Shyamada Mandal, the new BJP district president.

At Barrackpore in North 24 Parganas district, the decapitated body of Lala Chowdhury, a panipuri seller, was found beside the railway tracks at Kankinara on Wednesday while the head was recovered from a local train. BJP MP Arjun Singh said he will raise the issue of deterioration in law and order situation in his constituency for which he deemed the TMC responsible.