They have been booked under IPC Section 307 ( attempt to murder) and under the Explosive Substances Act among others, police said. (Representational/File)Four persons, all between 18 and 20 years in age, have been arrested in connection with the crude bomb blast inside a government school premises in Titagarh in North 24 Parganas district on Saturday.
“Among the four arrested persons, three are alumni of the school… They have been identified as Mohammad Aryan, Sheikh Bablu, Mohammad Sadiq and Rihan… Primarily, it (the blast) was done out of some personal issues,” Commissioner of Police (Barrackpore) Alok Rajoria told mediapersons on Sunday.
They have been booked under IPC Section 307 ( attempt to murder) and under the Explosive Substances Act among others, police said.
According to police, they identified one of the arrested accused from the CCTV footage collected from the area after the explosion. “He was arrested and during questioning, he revealed the three more names. All of them have confessed to being involved in the blast. However, the accused said that they did not intend to injure or kill anyone,” said a senior police officer on the condition of anonymity.
The bomb was thrown from the roof of a six-storeyed building located opposite to the school, said police.
Sources in the police said that though the accused initially told the police that threw the bomb “out of fun”, but the preliminary probe suggests that they threw the bomb over a “personal grudge against someone in the school”.
Police said they have found 10 more bombs from the house of one of the arrested accused and are conducting searches at the residences of three other accused.
Panic gripped students and teachers on Saturday morning when a crude bomb exploded on the roof of Free India High School when classes were in progress. The explosion blew up a portion of the roof with bomb splinters scattered on the floor. However, there was no casualty as students and teachers were in rooms located on the first two floors of the three-storeyed building.
Meanwhile, Opposition BJP demanded a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). “Absolutely it’s Egiye Bangla , where have you heard of an explosion in a school? We demand an NIA probe in this case,” said state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar.
The ruling TMC said the police are probing the incident and have already made arrests. “Let the investigation progress. The focus should be on the arrest of the accused. Who are involved in the case that police will find out,” TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said.
Last year in April, one person was killed and another was seriously injured in a bomb explosion near Titagarh railway station.