Two days after a 13-year-old girl died in a bomb explosion in Kaliganj, in the Nadia district, a forensic team on Wednesday examined the place where the incident took place and collected samples from the spot, officerssaid.
With the arrest of one more person on Wednesday, the number of arrests in the case has now reached five, police said. According to the police, all five arrested persons are affiliated to the ruling TMC. An FIR has been registered against 24 individuals in connection with the incident.
The minor had succumbed to her injuries, with the post-mortem report prima facie confirming death due to a bomb explosion. The victim’s family continues to assert that it was a targeted attack allegedly by a Trinamool Congress (TMC) worker.
Her parents Sabina Seikh and migrant labourer Hossain Seikh (who returned from Odisha on Tuesday), have again demanded a CBI investigation, and have vowed to “pursue every possible course of action” against those responsible. “The initial reaction of the police was okay. But it won’t last long. Once protests die down, everything will go back to what it was,” said the victim’s inconsolable mother. “Our daughter would not have been killed if the police hadn’t remained indifferent and acted on time. We had been facing repeated threats and attacks from the Trinamool for being CPIM supporters,” the minor’s mother further alleged.
Birbhum TMC MP Satabdi Roy said, “This is a very sad incident. It has overshadowed the joy of winning.”
The incident occurred on Monday, when the Kaliganj assembly by-poll results were declared, which the ruling TMC won by a significant margin. The victim’s family alleges that the bomb was hurled from a TMC victory procession, “deliberately targeting” their house due to their political affiliation.