LPG explosion damages house, police suspect criminal activity

An LPG cylinder burst inside a house on Ijjahtullah Lane on Monday afternoon, police said. Cops from Charu Market police station reached the spot to find that nobody had been injured, but the house was completely damaged.

"The explosion took place at around 3.55 pm inside a house with a tiled roof on Ijjahtullah Lane in the Charu Market police station area," a police officer confirmed. Further investigation revealed that some people were illegally refilling an LPG cylinder when the incident took place.

Local residents alleged that the house became a centre for refilling LPG illegally and many people came with empty cylinders to have them refilled.

"Most of those people were owners of local restaurants, roadside fast food vendors and even some local residents who used to go there for cheap refills. The owner of the business was probably the owner of the house as well," said a local source.

Fire brigade and Disaster Management Group officers reached the location for rescue work. They took samples from the debris for further investigation into the incident.

"The fire brigade will investigate the incident. It is quite a surprise that the entire house was reduced to rubble by the force of the explosion. The intensity of the eruption was so high that people heard the noise from a considerable distance," said a police source.

Some local residents, however, alleged that the owner of the house had deliberately deposited combustible material inside and that he is connected with criminals. "We suspect that some inflammable material was stored inside the house," said a local resident.