In an unusual incident, a woman was killed by a parcel bomb in Howrah and her husband was critically injured. The incident took place at a house on Andul Road in Howrah’s Dakshin Bakshara area. At around 2 pm on Wednesday, an employee of a courier company brought a large parcel to the Santras house: Lalkuthi. Chaitali Santra, 40, opened the door and received it. As soon as she opened it, the packet blew up. Her husband Himanshu Santra, a caterer, who was standing near her when she opened the packet, was grievously burnt. Alerted by the loud explosion, neighbours rushed to the Santras’ house. They found Chaitali in a pool of blood. She was already dead.
Himanshu was admitted to a private hospital. Their only daughter Shatabdi was in college when the incident happened. A family friend informed her over her cell phone. Initially the neighbours believed that the carnage was caused by a cooking gas cylinder explosion. However, later Mr Santra told his neighbours on way to the hospital what had actually transpired. The magnitude of the explosion could be gauged from the fact that the door and one window were ripped out and a huge crack appeared in a wall. The Shibpur police has started investigation. The police questioned the neighbours and the daughter of the deceased woman to know if the Santra family had any old enmity with any person. The police is trying to find out the details of the courier company.