Bomb defused near Farakka Barrage

MALDA, Aug. 4: The CID bomb squad today defused the improvised explosive device (IED) fitted with a timer found at Biharitola village, close to Farakka Barrage Project, under Baishnabnagar police station yesterday. Experts from the Siliguri bomb disposal squad examined the device today and expressed concern about the nature of the device, which was identified as a powerful explosive. The district police registered a case after detection of the improvised explosive device and started a probe into the matter. Efforts were made to track the person who kept the device at a cow shed at Biharitola village. Though initially the superintendent of police in Malda Mr Satyajit Bandyopadhyay suspected that the device was brought from Jharkhand area and local mafias and contractors may have kept the device there, police could not rule out other possibilities. Biharitola located on the bank of the Ganga is very close to the Farakka Barrage Project and also Indo-Bangla border and there is a route to cross over the river Ganga from Bangladesh to Jharkhand. “Experts said that the device was very powerful. We need to find out the source of the device. But we are at present not sure of the place from where it was collected - either from Bangladesh or Jhakhand”, said Mr Satyajit Bandyopadhyay, the Malda S P. “We will take two days more to confirm about its origin. We have started an investigation mobilising our intelligence sources”, he added. n SNS