A cache of crude bombs was discovered in a bamboo grove at Anantapur village under Baishnabnagar police station limits of Malda on Wednesday morning.
Grasscutters noticed 20-odd crude bombs hidden in three plastic jars in the grove and alerted other villagers, who in turn informed police.
A police team rushed to the site and cordoned off the area, after which the CID bomb squad arrived and successfully defused all the bombs in the afternoon.
Police have started a probe.
District BJP leaders alleged that supporters of the ruling Trinamool Congress kept the bombs to instill fear among local residents ahead of the polls. Local Trinamool leaders, however, dismissed those claims, stating that the police investigation would reveal the truth.
Protests over death
Protests rocked the super-specialty hospital in Chanchal, Malda, following the death of a pregnant woman, Salma Sultana, 27, on Wednesday.
On February 23, Salma, a resident of Malopara in Ratua-I block, was admitted to the hospital.
Her parents, Arshad Ali and Farida Bibi, alleged negligence during treatment killed her.
They claimed that although Salma suffered from low haemoglobin and was in labour pain, their request for a Caesarean-section operation was ignored by the attending doctor, despite their readiness to arrange blood.
Salma’s family and neighbours protested on hospital premises before police intervened to restore order.
Hospital superintendent Sumit Talukdar said that the patient had acute anaemia and blood had been arranged for her.
“She died of cardiac arrest,” Talukdar said, adding that the hospital would review the relatives’ complaint to investigate the circumstances leading to her death.