The luggage checking area in Chitpur for the Maitreyee Express. Picture by Amit Datta

Krishnagar, April 13: Seven crude bombs were today found near the track on which the Dhaka-bound Maitreyee Express will roll in tomorrow’s inaugural run.

Some residents crossing a railway line near Bikrampur station at Dhantola this morning found the bombs in a gunny bag and informed Government Railway Police (GRP), Ranaghat, and Dhantola police station.

Bikrampur station, about 70km from Calcutta, falls on the Maitreyee Express’s route.

“The bombs were in a gunny bag and have been disposed of,” said an officer of the Ranaghat GRP.

H.K. Kusumakar, the Nadia superintendent of police, said: “These bombs are not powerful enough to blow up railway lines. The Ranaghat GRP has been asked to investigate, and Dhantola police will help them.”

The police are probing whether the explosives were planted by a villagers’ outfit called Nikhil Banga Nagarik Sangha, which has been protesting against Bangladeshi infiltration into Nadia district, where Bikrampur is located.

The outfit has threatened to block the tracks tomorrow to stop the express.

Its chief, Ashim Roy, denied the outfit had a hand in planting the bombs, but added: “We protest against the train service as hundreds of Bangladeshis are infiltrating into our land every year.”

Roy and his men submitted a memorandum to the Nadia district magistrate, Onkar Singh Meena, last week.

Meena said: “We have decided to throw a security ring around the railway station. They (the villagers) will be arrested if they create trouble.”

Railway minister Lalu Prasad will flag off the Maitreyee Express from Chitpur in Calcutta at 7am tomorrow.

The non-stop journey to Dhaka will take around 11 hours, of which travelling time will be eight hours. Customs and immigration clearance will take up the rest.

Train services to Bangladesh were halted after the 1965 war between India and then undivided Pakistan.