Three police officers of the Barrackpore commissionerate have been suspended for dereliction of duty in connection with a huge explosion while firecrackers and chemicals seized from unauthorised firecracker units at Naihati were being defused.

The suspended cops included inspector in charge of Naihati police station and officer in charge of the bomb disposal squad of the Barrackpore commissionerate. They were present when the incident had happened on January 9.

A senior officer in the police directorate said the three cops had been placed under suspension and would be subjected to departmental proceedings soon.

The Naihati police were in the process of defusing illegal firecrackers on the premises of an abandoned jute mill on the banks of the Hooghly river when the blast had happened. Eight homes were severely damaged and at least 250 more affected. Three people, including an eight-year-old child, suffered serious burns.

“According to the preliminary enquiry, the explosion happened because of the negligent, hasty and unmindful disposal of seized firecrackers and chemicals,” said a senior officer.

Officers in the Barrackpore commissionerate had told this newspaper on condition of anonymity that some crude bombs that had been seized by the police earlier had also been kept with the firecrackers and that was why the blast had occurred.