Madhyamgram blast: Police probing whether deceased had plans to terminate lover, her husband

Kolkata, Aug 19 (PTI) West Bengal Police on Tuesday hinted that Sacchidanand Mishra, the man from Uttar Pradesh who succumbed to his injuries from the Madhyamgram blast, was carrying the explosive device on him with which he intended to kill the woman with whom he was having an affair, or even her husband.

Sleuths of the state police's Special Task Force (STF), probing the explosion, have questioned the woman concerned and her husband, a senior officer said.

The police revealed that investigators were exploring the possibility of whether 25-year-old Mishra was planning to kill the woman or her husband, who were residents of Madhyamgram in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, with the explosive devices he was carrying.

Sources in the Bengal STF also said that Mishra, in his dying confession, admitted to the police about his affair.

"Mishra was having an affair with the married woman from Madhyamgram whom he met on Instagram. But she had started avoiding him after her in-laws and husband came to know about the affair around three months ago and had blocked him over the social media platform," the officer told PTI.

The deceased, police said, was trying to find a way to rebuild the relationship despite the resistance put up by the in-laws of his lover.

"But whether he died by suicide by diffusing the bomb or it went off accidentally because of some technical issues in the device is being probed," the officer said.

Investigators suspect that an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was responsible for the explosion late Sunday night near the Rabindra Mukta Mancha at Madhyamgram, the police officer said.

After forensic examiners collected the blast samples from the site, investigators said that a low-intensity IED may have been used in the explosion.

The blast took place in front of the main gate of Madhyamgram High School at 12.57 am on Monday, resulting in the subsequent death of Mishra.

The deceased had suffered injuries on his left hand, abdomen and upper parts of the left leg.

Police said family members of the deceased claimed that he worked at a glass factory in Haryana and was not in touch with them for a formidable period of time.

Investigators also scrutinised the CCTV footage from the locality and questioned a local businessman who had interacted with Mishra a few minutes before the explosion took place. PTI SCH SMY NN