Kolkata, May 22 (IANS) The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of West Bengal Police on Monday took over the probe into the explosion at an illegal fire-cracker warehouse at Maheshtala in South 24 Parganas district on Sunday night, which has so far claimed three lives, including a 10-year-old child.

The blast happened just five days after a similar explosion at an illegal fire-cracker factory at Egra in East Midnapore district last Tuesday which claimed 12 lives, including the owner of the factory. The CID is handling the investigation into the Egra blast as well.

Two teams, one from the CID and the other from the forensic department, reached the spot of the explosion at Maheshtala on Monday afternoon. While the forensic officials collected specimens from the explosion site, the members of the CID team spoke to the local people about the illegal warehouse.

Since the explosion on Sunday, a large number of policemen led by a DSP-rank officer conducted search operations in the area and arrested 40 people connected with illegal fire-cracker manufacturing units in Maheshtala, which for years has been a hub for this illegal trade. The cops also seized 20,000 kg illegal fire-crackers during the raids that started late on Sunday night and continued till Monday afternoon.

However, the local fire-cracker manufacturers have described these operations as police excess, claiming that the police are harassing even those who are doing their business in a legal way.

In case of the Maheshtala explosion, the local people alleged that the incident proved that the prior explosion at Egra was not an eye-opener for the police or the administration about the existence of such illegal fire-cracker factories and warehouses in different pockets of the state.

The illegal warehouse at Maheshtala was on the ground floor of a residential complex and was operating from there for quite some time in a totally illegal manner, the local people alleged.

They also claimed that despite being aware of the existence of such illegal warehouses, the local administration had been completely silent and took no action.

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