A three-member forensic team visited the site of an explosion at a Trinamool Congress youth leader’s house in Northabhag, Baruipur, three days after the incident, collecting samples as investigators examine whether the blast was caused by a gas cylinder or explosives allegedly stored inside the building.
The explosion took place late on Thursday night in the Lalpol area, severely damaging the two-storey concrete house belonging to Trinamool youth leader Dijेन Mondal. The blast was powerful enough to send a metal shutter from the house nearly 100 metres away. Fire also broke out at the property and was later brought under control by a fire engine.
No one was injured because Mondal and his family were not inside the house when the explosion occurred. According to local sources cited in the report, the family had been away from the house since the results of the Assembly election were announced.
The forensic team arrived at the site on Monday and collected material for examination. Its members did not comment on the investigation or disclose what the samples may indicate. The visit followed three days during which, according to the report, residents did not see a forensic team at the location, despite police earlier saying that a forensic examination would be conducted.
Police initially indicated that the blast may have originated from a gas cylinder kept inside the house. Local residents and BJP leaders, however, alleged that a large quantity of bombs had been stored at the property and that these caused the explosion. No official finding has yet established either explanation.
The competing accounts have made the forensic report central to the investigation. A gas-cylinder blast and an explosion involving stored explosives would imply different lines of inquiry, including the condition and location of household equipment, the nature of the material recovered from the site and how it came to be present inside the building.
The incident also highlights the public-safety risks created when a powerful explosion occurs in a densely inhabited area, even when a damaged property is unoccupied. The reported distance travelled by the shutter and the extent of structural damage indicate that the blast affected the immediate surroundings, although the report does not provide details of damage to neighbouring homes or public infrastructure.
Police said the investigation was continuing and that authorities were waiting for the forensic team’s report. The findings are expected to help determine the cause of the explosion and establish whether any explosive material was present at the house.
