A history-sheeter released from prison a few days ago was injured and another person dead in a bomb explosion at an abandoned house in an East Burdwan village on Friday night.

What would add to the discomfort of chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who handles the Home (Police) department portfolio, is the party’s district president Rabindranath Chattopadhyay’s claim that he and other Trinamool leaders and workers in East Burdwan could be the possible targets.

“The bombs could have been prepared for me or any other leader and workers in the district,” said Chattopadhyay, a former minister and president of Trinamool’s East Burdwan district unit. “They had a plan to carry out an attack on Katwa after Muharram and terrorise the people."

Rabindranath Chatterjee - Trinamul Congress candidate - West Bengal Legislative Assembly election - Katwa Constituency(Telgraph Library picture)

The BJP MLA Shankar Ghosh said the Trinamool district president's statement made it clear Mamata's party leaders lacked confidence in the state police under her.

"Don't the police have any intelligence network? Why didn't they get to know that a known criminal had gathered outsiders in a village?" asked Ghosh.

The main accused Toofan Chowdhury, who sustained injuries in the explosion, was released from prison about 10 days ago.

Churpuni Ghat on the banks of Ajay River is used for sand-mining. It was alleged that Toofan and others in the area would threaten sand traders who had secured mining rights through tenders floated by the government and extort them.

Chattopadhyay named Jangal Sheikh as the mastermind.

With several charges of murder, extortion and others in his name, Jangal Sheikh was a terror for the people of Katwa. In 2016, a Katwa judge had alleged he was offered a bribe of Rs. 10 lakh if he granted bail to Jangal, then a first-time Trinamool councillor, or face the consequences.

Two years ago Jangal was caught from Murshidabad by the Bhagabangola Police after he jumped bail. He had fled from Katwa along with his son, Saddam and some more associates.

Jangal was then named in the “most-wanted” list of the East Burdwan police.

“We are waiting to interrogate Toofan. Whether he was acting on his own or on someone’s instructions, what the plan was to do with the bombs will not be clear till we interrogate him,” said a police officer.

The deceased has been identified as Tahir Sheikh, a resident of Birbhum’s Nanoor.

“There were several complaints against Toofan. On Friday morning, he had assembled some unknown people. Probably they had come from other villages. Others present in the house fled after the explosion,” said Bashir Sheikh, a resident of Rajua village.