One person was killed when a part of a house collapsed and its roof was blown away after a stockpile of bombs kept there exploded at Sardarpara-Phoolmalancha village in South 24-Parganas early on Tuesday morning.

The blast near Basanti occurred when goons were shifting bombs to a “safe” place apparently to avoid a police raid.

The police have arrested one person but the owner of the house, Hamizuddin Sardar, 48, has fled with his family members. Farukh Sardar, 35, who was allegedly involved in shifting the bombs, died in the evening from injuries suffered in the explosion. He was found lying in an agriculture field in an unconscious state.

Police and local sources said around 5am, they woke up to a deafening sound and rushed out of their homes to witness a huge ball of fire and smoke spiralling out Hamizuddin’s house.

A few local residents said when they rushed near the site of the explosion, they saw members of Hamizuddin’s family and some unknown persons fleeing without trying to douse the fire. They informed the police, who rushed in and doused the fire that completely gutted the kutcha house.

Local residents alleged that rivalry between the youth wing of Trinamul and the party’s parent organisation had unleashed tension in the area. They said the tension escalated recently following murder of a Trinamul worker by the rival group.

Trinamul activist Murfat Mollah said: “The goons had killed Trinamul activist Amir Ali Sardar a few months ago. The accused persons, who are all Trinamul activists, have recently got bail and are threatening us with dire consequences. They were stocking bombs. We were apprehending an attack led by Hamizuddin and informed the police about our suspicion. But they did nothing.”

“Hamizuddin is a known criminal and supplier of bombs. He is a terror and rules the area due to his clout with the ruling party,” a resident of Sardarpara-Phoolmalancha village said.

The Trinamul leadership, however, rejected any association with the incident and termed Hamizuddin as a “criminal”.

Local Trinamul MLA Shyamal Mondal said: “Criminals had gathered at the house to shift bombs to a safe place and it was then that the ammunitions exploded. They were under pressure because of the ongoing police raid. But, the bombs went off due to careless movement.”

“I have told the police to take stern action against the goons and sanitise the area of bombs,” Mondal told The Telegraph.

Senior police officials, including superintendent of Baruipur police district Vaibhav Tiwari and SDPO Canning Dibakar Das, rushed to the spot for investigation. A team of forensic experts also visited the blast site later and collected samples.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Das rejected charges of “intelligence failure”.

“The area is vulnerable and we have in the recent past conducted several raids, recovered arms. The law-and-order situation is better now,” the SDPO said.