A bomb blast inside a house in the Kajwali Chak locality of the Tatarpur police station area of Bhagalpur at around 12.45 pm on Thursday created havoc.
A total of three houses were destroyed in this blast, while 14 including a woman and a child died. At the same time, the district administration has suspended an inspector in this case. Some other nearby houses were also damaged due to the blast. Debris removal work continues. More than a dozen people are being treated at Mayaganj Hospital. The condition of many of them remains critical. Bomb Disposal Squad and FSL team are reaching the spot and investigating. SDRF team has also reached the spot.
Police have indicated that the blast took place during the making of the bomb. SSP Babu Ram told that in the preliminary investigation, it has come to light that there was an explosion while making the bomb. It was told that at 11.35 pm there was an explosion in a house in the locality.
Sheela Devi and Leela Devi lived in this house. Both are goats. The intensity of the blast was so high that two other nearby houses were demolished. Apart from this, some other houses have also been damaged. The pieces of the house flew up to half a kilometre away. After the explosion subsided, a crowd gathered and the search began.
The bodies of Sheela Devi, Ganesh Kumar and a six-month-old baby were retrieved from the rubble shortly after. Half a dozen injured were also taken to the hospital one by one. All the deceased and injured are residents of Kajwali Chowk, Tatarpur. JCB was called around 1 pm and the work of clearing the debris was started.
How many other people were inside, it will be completely clear after the debris is removed. Many senior officers including DIG, SSP, DM reached the spot. Electric poles and wires were also shattered due to the blast. Relief work was facing difficulties due to darkness.
Regarding the blast, the SSP says that the cause of the incident is probably a firecracker material explosion.
According to the information received so far, one of the families of the victims used to make firecrackers. In whose house there has been an incident of explosion in the past. There is a possibility of an explosion with explosive material in the same house. After the inspection of the bomb disposal team and the FSL team, the situation will become more clear.
1- Rinku Kumar Sah, 30 years
2- Ayesha Mansoor, 25 years
3- Rahul Kumar, 12 years
4- Soni Devi, 27 years
2- Ayesha Mansoor, 25 years
3- Rahul Kumar, 12 years
4- Soni Devi, 27 years
1- Ganesh Prasad Singh, 60 years
2- An unknown woman
3- Priyanshu, Leela Devi's grandson
2- An unknown woman
3- Priyanshu, Leela Devi's grandson
The city area was shaken by the bomb blast in the Kajvalichak locality on Thursday night. The explosion was so strong that people came out of the house till Tatarpur Chowk and around the Ghantaghar. The smell of gunpowder continued to spread throughout the urban area for an hour after the incident.
Women and children of both the houses came out near Tatarpur Chowk. Women Afreen, Shamima etc. told that the sound was so strong that the windows started knocking. It looked like someone had knocked on the windows. When we came out of the house, we saw that the people around also came out.
People woke up in the localities like Sarai, Ramsar Chowk, Vikramshila Colony etc. Gopal Khetriwal, a businessman living near Khalifabagh, asked on the social media group whether there was an earthquake just now. Similarly, on many social media of the city, people also posted about the speculation of explosions and earthquakes.
Mojahidpur SHO Subodh Kumar, who came to the spot about 25 minutes after the explosion, said that the smell of gunpowder was felt even near the station chowk. The ambulance driver, who took Ganesh to the hospital, said that the smell of gunpowder was coming up to the clock tower.