Blast in city leaves four injured

KOLKATA: After the mysterious fire that raged for four days, an equally mysterious blast in the central business district rocked the city on Wednesday.

The explosion on Shakespeare Sarani apparently wasn't triggered by electrical or chemical devices but it was so powerful that it injured four pedestrians, wrenched a solid iron railing from its bars and hurled it several metres, split a tree trunk and twisted and mangled metal bars within a radius of 40 feet.

The blast has stumped police and explosive experts, much like the McDonald's explosion of August 12, 2007, that killed one person and injured three. Law enforcement agencies don't rule out the hand of a separatist organization in Wednesday's blast, particularly since it took place near Nagaland House.

According to the police, the blast occurred under a neem tree around 9.50 am, when the pavements of Shakespeare Sarani were swarming with office-goers.

Through sheer luck, there were few pedestrians in the immediate vicinity of the explosion. "Otherwise, there would have been severe casualties," said a senior officer.

Piyush Banerjee (66) bore the brunt of the explosion and was critically injured. Jaya Saha (40) and her husband Mukul (49) of Mankundu in Hooghly, who were walking behind Banerjee, received splinter injuries all over their bodies. So did 28-year-old Aditi Ghosh of Dum Dum.

Panic ensued on the street. A group of commuters took the injured to a nursing home as the police cordoned off the area. Eyewitnesses said the explosion was deafening and rattled buildings in a 100-metre radius.

"A sudden darkness descended on the area for a moment after the explosion. People were screaming and running for cover. We thought it was a terrorist attack," said Arun Pradhan, who narrowly escaped the blast. Windows of nearby buildings were blown to smithereens.

Police chief G M Chakrabarti initially ruled out foul play, claiming it was an underground transformer that had exploded. But the mystery deepened when CESC categorically said there was no transformer at the spot.

Detective department chief Jawed Shamim examined every inch around the site but found no apparent signs of a subversive act. There were no bits of detonators and wires or any lingering smell of explosives.