One dead, rented house in Kannur reduced to rubble in suspected bomb-making accident

Kannur:  One person died in a powerful explosion that flattened a rented house at Keezhara in Kannur's Kannapuram grama panchayat, around 1.50 am on Saturday. The identity of the deceased has not been confirmed. Neighbours said the blast shook homes within a radius of 500 metres. "My house shook, and when we stepped out, there was nothing to be seen at first. A little later, the smell of gunpowder spread through the air," said V V Pushpavalli, a panchayat member who lives barely 50 metres away.

Vidya P, another panchayat member, who lived 500 metres away on the other side of the hill, said her windowpanes rattled and her 24-year-old son heard a loud sound. "He thought it was a thunderclap," she said.

Vinodkumar, who lives barely 20 metres away, called in the police. The blast shattered his window panes, flung iron grills onto his house, and destroyed the tiled roof. "When I stepped out, the house was gone," he said.

Pushpavalli said she saw the foot of a man in the debris. Police said body parts were recovered from the site.

Investigators suspect the explosion took place while crude bombs were being made. Unexploded materials were also found at the site. The bomb squad, dog squad, a Thunderbolt team, and a Fire and Rescue team from Taliparamba reached the scene by 2:30 am. Heavy machinery was later brought in to clear the debris.

The house belonged to Govindan, a retired teacher of North Kannapuram Government LP School. He and his family had lived in the house for many years before moving out, said Vidya. Initially, he rented the house to families, but one and a half years ago, he rented it to Anoop Malik, a bodybuilder in the neighbourhood, said Damodaran, a former panchayat member and neighbour. "He was earlier involved in bomb making, and so police picked him up immediately after the blast," he said.

Anoop has given the house to someone else whose identity is not known to any neighbours. The person, who was probably killed in the blast, came home in the night and left in the morning, said Pushpavalli. "Whenever he stepped out, he wore a helmet," the panchayat member said.

Once he fell off his motorcycle, and people helped him get up. Even then, he did not take his helmet off, she said. Sanitation workers have also always found the house locked in the morning. "I have also gone to the house several times but always found the house locked," Vidya said. Govindan, the house owner, is in poor health and unable to walk. When contacted, his daughter said he was not able to speak. "All I know is the house was rented out to a Malayali," she said.

An officer at Kannapuram police station said a firecracker unit may have been functioning out of the house. But panchayat member Pushpavathi said the local body has no information on such a unit. The 14-member Kannapuram panchayat is ruled by the LDF.