When it comes to unclaimed luggage in the backdrop of the Burdwan blasts, there’s no gentle drama — it’s always straight to Macbeth. One such ownerless suitcase, a blue one tied around with a rope and dumped on a sandpit of senior BSNL employee Manasi Sanyal’s two-storey Salt Lake house under renovation, kept personnel of the Bidhannagar commissionerate busy through Friday afternoon. The suitcase was prised open by officers who didn’t bother to wear protective gear or take the “bomb” to a secluded and safe place before “defusing” it. Luckily, there was no bomb inside.

Officer-in-charge of Bidhannagar North police station, Santanu Koar, checks the suitcase at AE 436 around 4pm. “I noticed the bag on a heap of sand on the premises of my house around 2.45pm and alerted our councillor Swati Banerjee, who in turn alerted the police,” says houseowner Manasi Sanyal. At that time, around eight labourers were working on the second floor of the building.

An officer in plainclothes from New Town police station inspects the suitcase with a torch at 4.15pm. He tries to open the suitcase with his bare hands and peek inside. Moments later, his colleague — also in mufti — cuts the rope tied around the suitcase. The two officers had come with a red bag that contained a large nylon rope, two hooks, three iron rods, two hand held metal detectors and a torch. No protective suit, no bomb basket — must-haves for such operations.

The duo tie one end of the nylon rope to a tree, pass it over the suitcase and take the other end outside the boundary wall. Then they attach (circled) a hook to the handle of the suitcase and give the rope a wild jerk from both ends. The suitcase opens and its contents spill over. Rules say it should have ben taken to a safe spot.

The suitcase reveals a green handbag (circled red) and some torn and wet newspapers. Inspector Koar takes the suitcase outside while the other two officers poke the green bag with iron rods having hooks attached to one end. A toothbrush, a spent bottle of mosquito repellent, an iron rod that can be found on a ceiling fan and a device (see red arrows below) that runs a wall clock spill out of the bag. “Safe. No bomb,” declares an officer, tackling the situation with bare hands because of his “years of experience”.

Text by Tamaghna Banerjee; pictures by Mayukh Sengupta