Bengal: Crude bombs hurled, 12 houses vandalised in TMC’s factional war in Malda

Crude bombs were hurled and at least 12 houses were vandalised on Saturday as two factions of the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal's Malda district clashed over an old feud. A large number of police personnel was deployed in the area as the situation turned tense.

According to a PTI report, the incident happened in the Gopalpur Balutola area in Manikchak block of Malda when a group of TMC workers, led by panchayat samiti office-bearer Saifuddin Sheikh, got into a brawl with the faction led by the party's area president Nasir Ali.

Dismissing speculations of infighting in the party, Manikchak's TMC MLA Sabitri Mitra said there was an old feud between the two leaders over land, which led to violence, adding that such fights had happened earlier as well. "It has nothing to do with the TMC," Mitra said. Police said they were yet to make any arrest in the incident.

Last month, at least six crude bombs were receovered from Malda. The bombs were recovered after a person got injured while trying to remove some garbage in the area.

Previously, the Malda police had recovered at least nearly 40 crude bombs from a village in the area.

(With agency inputs)