Kolkata: Explosion kills 8-yr-old 3 days before birthday

On October 5, Bibhas Ghosh would have turned 9... had he not stopped at the neighbourhood sweetmeat shop on Tuesday. Bibhas was killed by the explosion that tore through 9 Jessore Road in Kajipara (Nager Bazar) in Kolkata on Gandhi Jayanti. Nine others were injured in the 9 am crude bomb attack, of which two are critical.

The explosion, that occurred near a godown, could be heard more than one and a half kilometres away and shattered the window panes of apartments in the vicinity.

Janmejoy, Bibhas' father, says his injured wife Sita and child were turned away by two hospitals because they lacked the requisite infrastructure to treat burn wounds. Medicos at the state-run Seth Sukhlal Karnani Memorial (SSKM) Hospital says Bibhas was nearly dead when he was brought in.

"At SSKM too," says Ghosh, "I had to complete admission formalities before they could be admitted. My son died immediately after admission." Sita is in a critical state.

The family had been preparing for Bibhas' birthday. "He had asked for a toy pistol," said a neighbour, "His father, a worker in a sweetmeat shop, was planning to buy it."

Bibhas studied in Class II in KK Hindi Academy school and his mother works as a domestic maid. They were on their way to one of the apartments where Sita worked and had stopped for a treat at the sweet shop when the explosion occurred.

Originally from Kulpi in South 24 Parganas, they have been living in Dum Dum for a few years. "I want the offenders to get the harshest punishment," says Bikash, Bibhas' elder brother.