Bomb on bus to Bhutan border - IED had timer set at 3.04pm monday

Members of the bomb squad defuse the IED at Kalchini police station on Monday. Picture by Anirban Choudhuri ANIRBAN CHOUDHURI, TT, Kalchini, Jan. 11: An improvised explosive device recovered from a private bus parked in Hamiltonganj on the outskirts of Kalchini last night was defused by the CID’s bomb squad this afternoon after four failed attempts to set it off with external charges. Police said a quartz clock was attached with wires to the IED and the time set at 3.04pm today. They said if the bomb had gone off at that time, the bus would have been on its way to Jaigaon — its regular route — with around 30 passengers from the Alipurduar bus stand. The distance between Alipurduar and Jaigaon is 60km and the bus covers it in about 90 minutes. The bus makes two trips from Jaigaon to Alipurduar and back. The bomb inside a one-foot-high tiffin carrier was discovered by the bus owner on a luggage rack inside the vehicle that was parked for the night near his home in Hamiltonganj, 2km from Kalchini. Jalpaiguri superintendent of police Anand Kumar visited the Kalchini police station — where the bomb was defused — along with additional superintendent of police Anup Jaiswal. “We have successfully opened the steel container in which the explosive with a timer devise was kept. Its contents are being sent to the state forensic sciences laboratory in Calcutta. After it is examined we will be able to say about the nature of the explosive material and the kind of destruction there could have been had it burst,” the police chief said. The police and IAF intelligence sources, however, said the IED was not unlike the ones used by the Maoists in the forests of south Bengal. They, however, did not detail any similarities. “The timer, or the clock, was packed inside a Plaster of Paris case intact with wires inside the steel container,” said a source in the air force intelligence. The members of the bomb squad from Siliguri arrived in Kalchini around 12.30pm today and set about trying to detonate the IED with the help of external charges in the compound of the police station. However, four attempts to make the IED go off failed. Later, the squad managed to open the steel container fully by hanging it high up on a tree and letting go off the rope that held it. The container fell 7ft down and smashed on the ground. The timer had been detonated earlier. Some wires of the timer that came out of the tiffin box through a crack had been snipped off before the container was broken open. Kumar said patrolling had been intensified in the area and extra vigil was being kept on bus stands and on passengers. “A few days ago, we had discussed the presence of too many outsiders in Jaigaon with the SSB (the border force). Patrolling and vigil are going to be intensified,” said the Jalpaiguri police chief. The gateway to India from Bhutan is through Jaigaon that is part of the porous border. The possibility of the IED being kept in the bus after being smuggled into Jaigaon from Bhutan cannot be ruled out, a senior officer said. Around 7.30pm yesterday, the owner of the bus, Dibyendu Ghosh, discovered a school bag lying on the luggage rack of the vehicle that was parked for the night near his home. “I immediately called up the Kalchini police station and told them about what I had found. Later on I took the bag and deposited it at the Kalchini police station, where it was kept under a pile of sandbags,” Ghosh said. He said the IED was wrapped tightly with newspapers and black tape. “I was lucky that nothing untoward happened. I have asked the driver and the conductor of the bus to be extra vigilant from now on,” the bus owner said. The district police chief said carrying the bag to the police station had been risky on the part of the bus owner. “I don’t know about the nature of the explosive, but carrying it (to the police station) had been risky,” said Kumar. The discovery of the IED set off panic as well as rumours in Kalchini. “I got frantic phone calls, asking me to come to Kalchini immediately from Alipurduar as there had been multiple blasts there,” said Kalchini MLA Wilson Champromary. Wilson visited Kalchini police station, about 32km from Alipurduar, and found out that the IED was being defused. “I felt very relieved that nothing serious had taken place,” the MLA said. ‘Bravery award’ for ‘baton-happy’ cops Chhatra Parishad supporters hand over the award to a officer in Kotwali police station of Jalpaiguri on Monday. Picture by Biplab Basak TT, Siliguri, Jan. 11: A box of sweets, a packet of glass bangles and flowers were today “awarded” to Jalpaiguri police for “beating up” Chhatra Parishad women supporters on Friday. More than 20 supporters of the CP marched to Kotwali police station in Jalpaiguri, carrying the items, which also included a pair of sankha or conch bangles worn by married women, a diary and a pen. They searched for Rajib Bhattacharjee, the inspector-in-charge who was not present, and found Khush Mohammad Khan, a sub-inspector on duty. The girls handed over the gifts to him and walked out. The district Youth Congress has threatened a general strike in Jalpaiguri town on January 18 in protest. “We were indiscriminately beaten up by the police only for raising a blockade and protesting the unfairness in the election to the student union in Prasannadeb Women’s College on Friday,” said Sikha Saha, a Chhatra Parishad member of the institution who was at the police station with the gifts, today. “They (the police) did not care for our rights or demands and went on beating us, injuring several of us. We are frustrated to see the partisan attitude of the police and the college authorities who were determined to make the SFI win. So, we awarded them appreciating their bravery for the attack on us,” she added. On Friday, the police lathicharged CP supporters after they set up a blockade to stop the principal from entering the college. In the melee, SFI candidates managed to enter the institution and file nominations in all 70 seats. Since none of the CP candidates could file nominations on that day, the last day of filing the papers, the SFI is expected to win uncontested. Sourav Chakraborty, the CP’s state president who was in Jalpaiguri today, said he had conveyed Friday’s incident to PCC chief and Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee. “He (Mukherjee) asked me to talk to state home secretary Ardhendu Sen. I approached him accordingly, giving the names of six police officers who had led the lathicharge on our supporters. It seems Sen does not have much confidence in the administration and the police. Instead of collecting information on his own, he has asked me to provide him with the points to substantiate my allegation. We will shortly submit him the report,” the CP leader said. The Jalpaiguri district Youth Congress has decided to call a general strike on January 18 if the recommendations of the three-member committee, formed by the college authorities to investigate the alleged attack by SFI supporters on their women supporters go against them. “If the committee proposes cancellation of the election since not a single CP candidate was given the chance to submit nomination, we will not go for any movement,” said Saikat Chatterjee, the Jalpaiguri district Youth Congress president. The three-member committee is likely to submit its report to the principal tomorrow. GNLF strike SNS, Siliguri: The GNLF has called an indefinite strike in Panighata, 40km from here, from Tuesday. Rajen Mukhia, a GNLF leader, said on Monday that the strike has been called to protest the alleged anomalies in the distribution of work to beneficiaries under the 100-days work scheme. Rally & dharna Siliguri: The Bandi Mukti Committee will organise a protest rally and dharna here to demand the release of Chhatradhar Mahato, Chhatrey Subba and Bangshibadan Burman. Members of the committee told a media conference here that the rally will be organised at Bidhan Market on January 14 and the dharna will be held at Venus More on January 29. Locals kill leopard in Jalpaiguri, seven injured SNS, JALPAIGURI, 11 JAN: Residents of Charchara village near Daukimari area of Dhupguri today killed a leopard that had entered the village in the morning today. The leopard injured seven persons before it could be killed. Two of the villagers have been referred to the North Bengal Medical College and one to the Jalpaiguri sadar hospital for treatment. The others have been admitted to the Dhupguri hospital. According to forest department officials, the leopard had come out of the Ramsai forest area, entered the village and hid behind a clump of bamboos. The people converged in the area and started to throw stones at it. The leopard attacked the villagers and injured seven of them. Enraged with the leopard attack, the locals grew furious and killed the animal, said the DFO Jalpaiguri division, Mr Kalyan Das. According to him, a forest guard Mr Bijay Roy was injured in the stone throwing. He has been referred to the Jalpaiguri sadar hospital.