Security forces at the Malda station on Friday, two days before the panchayat polls. Picture by Surajit Roy

May 16: Forensic experts who visited Basanti today to inquire into yesterday’s explosion, which killed a minister’s relative, did not rule out the possibility of explosives being stored in the house.

“We have collected samples from the debris in Kumrokhali village and don’t rule out the possibility of a blast caused by explosives stored there. But we have to go there again before drawing a conclusion,” said Central Forensic Science Laboratory director Chandranath Bhattacharya.

The ancestral house of irrigation minister and RSP leader Subhas Naskar was reduced to ashes after alleged motorcycle-borne CPM supporters hurled a bomb at the house.

Gouri Naskar, the wife of the minister’s nephew, died at SSKM Hospital this morning. Her body was not taken back to Kumrokhali to avoid a mourning procession and further escalation of tension in the area, 90km from Calcutta.

At the blast site, Bhattacharya said: “We are mainly looking into two aspects — whether one bomb was hurled or a stockpile of bombs stored inside the house exploded.”

Gouri’s inconsolable mother-in-law, Kalyani, said: “Three motorcycles carrying nine people sped past our house around 2.30pm yesterday. Seconds later, an explosion occurred and the room where Gouri and (her husband) Sushanta lived turned into a ball of fire.”

Local CPM leaders denied any CPM hand in the explosion. “The RSP supporters had stockpiled bombs in that house to be used in attacks against us. Now that the bombs have exploded accidentally, they are trying to pass the buck,” said Ammad Mollah, a member of the CPM local committee.

RSP and CPM supporters have been engaged in violent clashes since Wednesday’s panchayat polls. Border Security Force and Rapid Action Force jawans patrolled the area today. “We have made elaborate security arrangements,” said South 24-Parganas superintendent of police Praveen Kumar.