Two police personnel, including a bomb squad officer, were killed and three others injured while defusing bombs inside the premises of Saria Police Station on Monday afternoon in Giridih. The incident took place when they were diffusing crude bombs that were recovered from forest area of Giridih district, said senior police officials.
The police personnel, identified as Md Asafak Kuraishi and Chowkidar Mahindra Turi, died on the spot while three others identified as Assistant Sub Inspectors Binod Upadhaya, Satendra Sharma and Punai Oran were injured while diffusing the bombs, said Superintendent of Police Akhilesh V Verier. The team had come from Police Training Centre, Hazaribagh to diffuse the bombs, he said.
The three injured were taken to Meena Hospital Dumari for better treatment after being first treated at Bagodar Primary Health Centre, senior police officers said.
Soon after, the top officials including IG, Murari Lal Meena, DIG Bhim Sen Tuti, Giridih SP, Akhilesh V Verier SDPO, Deepak Kumar Sharma reached the spot. Former MLA Vinod Singh and incumbent legislator of Bagodar Nagendra Mahto also reached the site of the incident and expressed grief.
According to reports, the incident occurred around 12:45 pm on Monday when the bomb squad team of PTC Hazaribagh took the bombs, which was kept inside the Police Station, to a desolate spot to defuse them and suddenly the bombs went off, killing two of policemen. Sources said that the fire to destroy the diffused detonators gelatin rods accidentally reached the live bombs and thus a huge blast took place at the site.
A portion of building of the Police Station was also damaged and two or three nearby houses were damaged and an attic of one house caught fire. The blast was so powerful that the glasses of the windows of nearby houses got shattered. Local residents gathered outside the Police State in a state of shock and fear, locals said.
According to sources, the deceased policemen were defusing the bombs while others were standing far from the spot in the police station area when accidently, one such bomb went off and killed the two men.
Giridih SP Akhilesh V Verier said that the police have cordoned off the site of incident and was investigating the possible causes of it. “In normal conditions this should not happen. We are trying to get the reasons behind it. However, our first priority at this point of time is to console the bereaved persons and facilitate better treatment to the ones who are injured,” he said.