Raiganj, Dec. 21: A first-year student of philosophy at Raiganj College here was arrested today with three crude bombs in his possession.

The arrest of the student, Ramakrishna Saha, comes a day before the union election at the institution.

Sources at the Raiganj police station said a tip off that crude bombs were being procured for use during the elections preceded Saha?s arrest from Debinagar this afternoon. The bombs were found in a jute bag hanging from the handlebars of the bicycle he was riding.

North Dinajpur police superintendent Pradip Kumar Sanyal said Saha had told his interrogators that he had bought the explosives and was taking them home for safekeeping.

Police said every year there is tension between the Chhatra Parishad (CP) and the SFI over the elections. However, it is not yet clear if the youth had procured the bombs for disrupting tomorrow?s elections.

Saha maintained that he had bought the bombs for self-defence against his ?enemies? who had threatened him and that the bombs had nothing to do with the elections.

Both CP and the SFI have claimed that Saha did not belong to their unions.

The police have decided to deploy additional forces on the college campus tomorrow.

The sources said policemen have been posted there for the past one month.