The police today recovered a bomb-like device from under a culvert on the Suri-Bolpur road barely half an hour before Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Chief was to pass through it to address a rally here.
Coming a day after her hotel room in Malda caught fire, the device was fitted under a culvert and its wires were partly visible, Birbhum police superintendent RM Khan said.
The chief minister, however, reached Suri from Nalhati by helicopter.
The SP said that during security check, a police team found the device, including two gelatin sticks, two detonators, 12 batteries and a charger.
"We have detained five persons from adjacent areas for interrogation," he said.
A number of TMC MLAs, district leaders and supporters crossed the culvert to reach Suri on foot. Buses and other vehicles carrying the meeting-bound TMC supporters were trapped on the narrow culvert.
