• TMC candidate, accused in Birbhum explosives case, skips NIA summon
    Times of India | 4 July 2023
  • KOLKATA: Manoj Ghosh, the TMC’s panchayat poll candidate from Birbhum, who was asked to appear before the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday in connection to an explosives case the agency is probing, did not appear.

    Earlier last week, the NIA conducted a search at his residence for more than eight hours and recovered explosive materials, including ammonium nitrate and gelatin sticks.

    Apart from that a pistol, live ammunition, and other incriminating documents were also recovered from an illegal godown that belongs to Ghosh.

    Ghosh is an active leader of the party in Bahadurpur village.

    The NIA registered the case in September 2022 following the seizure of around 81,000 electric detonators from a vehicle in the Mohammad Bazar Police Station area in Birbhum.

    The vehicle’s driver Ashish Keora was also arrested. Earlier last week the agency filed a supplementary chargesheet in the case.

    According to sources, the central agency recovered a cache of explosive materials, including ammonium nitrate and gelatin sticks.

    In addition to the explosives, a pistol, live ammunition, and other incriminating documents were also recovered from the same location.

    The seizure followed an extensive search operation that lasted over eight hours. The illegal godown belonged to a person identified as Manoj Ghosh, who is a TMC candidate for the upcoming panchayat election but also an active leader of the party in Bahadurpur village.
  • Link to this news (Times of India)