Explosion in Himachal BJP spokesman's residence, 4 injured

Shimla, May 13: A major explosion occurred in the house of state BJP spokesman Ganesh Dutt in Annandale area here today, injuring four persons and causing damage to adjacent houses.

SP, Shimla, D W Negi said preliminary investigations suggest that the explosion occurred due to leakage in LPG cylinder and there was no evidence so far of explosion being caused by some chemical reaction.

The explosion, suspected to be caused by leakage of LPG cylinder from the ground floor of the house where a tenant lives, blew off the wall and window of the flat along with upper storey of the house while adjoining houses developed cracks with windowpanes crumbling and breaking into pieces.

The police immediately reached the spot and forensic experts examined the spot, the SP said, adding that a case has been registered under various sections of IPC and probe has been started.

The sound of the blast was heard upto one km distance and people mistook it as earthquake as windows and doors rattled. "We rushed out of the houses fearing that earthquake has rocked the area but on reaching the spot, found that it was an explosion which caused massive damage," said a neighbour, whose windowpanes had completely smashed.

Tenant Thakur Das Verma (45) received serious burn injuries while his wife Reena and two minor children Arun (8) and Lalita (10) sustained minor injuries and were rushed to the IGMC hospital, police said.

Thakur, who works as a pharmacist in a private laboratory, said that he went to bathroom in the morning and "as soon as pressed the power button for switching on the immersion road, a major blast occurred". Ganesh Dutt said some chemical reaction of mischief could not be ruled out and put the loss due to the damage at around Rs 5 lakh.

PTI