NEW DELHI, Sept 14: One person was injured in a blast in a waste bin on SN Banerjee road in central Kolkata on Saturday.
The injured person was identified as Bapi Das, 58, who said he was a ragpicker and the explosion occurred when he was “near a plastic bag” near the waste bin.
Following the incident at 1.45 pm, the officer in charge of central Kolkata’s Taltala police station went to the spot to check. The explosion had blown off several fingers of the ragpicker and was admitted in the state-run Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital.
The police said a gunny bag was found at the entry point of Blochmann Street. The police said they sealed the area and called the bomb disposal squad. The bomb squad checked the bag and searched the surroundings, following which they cleared the area for traffic.
Bapi Das told the police that he used to roam around the area, and only recently started sleeping on a pavement on SN Banerjee Road. The police said his statement is yet to be recorded as his treatment is going on. A forensic check of the area will follow.
(Manas Dasgupta)