Later, the police recovered another crude bomb from an abandoned shed (Representational)
A nine-year-old boy was injured in a crude bomb explosion in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas on Sunday. The BJP, which is in the opposition, and the ruling Trinamool Congress have accused each other of stockpiling explosives.
A student of Class 3, Yusuf Mondal sustained serious injuries in his hand when he mistook a crude bomb in a field close to his home in Basirhat to be a ball, the police said. It exploded as he began playing with it, they added.
The boy was initially taken to a hospital in Basirhat, but as his condition deteriorated, he was referred to a hospital in Kolkata.
Later, the police recovered another crude bomb from an abandoned shed nearby but no arrests could be made.
BJP's state president Sukanta Majumdar asserted that the Basirhat incident was the latest instance of bombs being stockpiled by TMC goons to terrorise political opponents.
Though the panchayat polls are over, the "reign of terror prevails", he told reporters.
Alleging that law and order has collapsed in the state, Mr Majumdar said, "Bengal is sitting on the heap of gunpowder. Such incidents testify that the end of TMC is nearing as it cannot trust people and increasingly become dependent on arms and explosives."
TMC's state general secretary Kunal Ghosh, on the other hand, claimed that the incident exposed the Opposition's game plan to foment trouble in the state and give a bad name to the ruling party.
"The opposition has stockpiled bombs and weapons to disrupt the peaceful Bengal. They want to show the state in poor light and malign the ruling TMC to the rest of India," he said.