Bibhas Ghosh, who was killed in the explosion in Nagerbazar, with mother Sita at his uncle’s wedding last June. File picture

Bibhas Ghosh in a selfie with elder brother Bikash, a student of Class X. File picture

Bibhas Ghosh’s birthday gift, a video game console, has been shipped by an e-retailer. While placing the order, his uncle Dipanjoy Ghosh had imagined how his nephew’s face would light up while receiving the gift on his ninth birthday this Friday.

The birthday party won’t happen. Bibhas was fatally injured in the explosion in Nagerbazar on Tuesday morning. He was walking down the footpath in front of a famous sweet shop in that neighbourhood with his mother Sita, who suffered 50 per cent burns in the incident.

According to doctors at SSKM Hospital, the Class III student was in shock and his blood pressure had dropped very low by the time he was brought in. He died within half an hour of being admitted to the burns unit of the hospital.

“The flesh on his legs was mangled. He was bleeding profusely. The blast had also caused severe burns to his head, face and neck,” a doctor said.

Bibhas and his mother had just passed by the storeroom of Basanti Sweets on Kazipara Road when the explosion occurred a few feet behind them at 9.10am.

The boy would usually stay with an elderly couple in the neighbourhood after returning from school every day. Gandhi Jayanti being a holiday, Sita had decided to take her son along to the household in Kazipara where she is employed as a cook.

Bibhas’ father Janmejoy, a resident of Arjunpur in Nagerbazar, works in a sweet shop at Motijheel in Dum Dum.

“Bibhas had been so excited about his birthday celebration. He had already invited his friends. He wanted a PSP gaming console as a gift from me. He was very close to me,” said Dipanjoy. “Bibhas had even specified which e-retailer I could buy his gift from. The packet will arrive any moment.”

Janmejoy and Sita’s elder son Bikash is 16 years old and studies in Class X at KK Hindu Academy in Dum Dum, the same institute Bibhas went to.

Subhashis Ghosh, a relative of the family, said Janmejoy had fainted several times since hearing of his younger son’s death. Sita, in pain but conscious, has been crying continuously and asking for Bibhas.

“She has not been told that Biltu (Bibhas’s nickname) is no more. Maybe she has guessed what has happened. She has been mumbling that Biltu wanted to stay with the elderly couple but she insisted on him going with her,” Dipanjoy said.

Bibhas had been first taken to ILS Hospital and then to the Institute of Child Health near Park Circus before moving him to SSKM.

Sita was moved to SSKM from ILS. “The patient has burn injuries on her limbs and abdomen. Her condition remains critical,” a doctor at the state-run hospital said.