Puri SP K V Singh suspended SI Tapoi Nayak, who was in charge of the Malkhana (storeroom) of Balanga Police Station, after the preliminary inquiry conducted by Additional SP Purnachandra Pradhan, a senior police officer said.
According to preliminary investigation, some explosive materials seized by police in 2018 were stored at the malkhana instead of being defused immediately, he added.
On the night of Monday, a massive explosion occurred inside the Balanga Police Station following which several documents, computers and other essential items of the police station were damaged.
However, there was no report of human casualty as the police personnel were deployed on by-election duty in Pipili Assembly constituency.
At least four gram panchayats under Balanga Police station jurisdiction comes under the Pipli assembly segment where the by-poll is scheduled to take place on Thursday.
Following the mishap, BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra alleged that the local police were in hand in gloves with the anti-social elements to disturb the election process in Pipili. He also demanded an impartial probe into the incident.
