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Blast at Lalru dhaba during fuel theft kills three
Another man suffers 80% burns while the men were stealing fuel from an oil tanker.
Three men were killed and another critically injured after a blast ripped through a dhaba’s basement while they were stealing fuel from an oil tanker at Sirsini village, Lalru, on the Ambala-Chandigarh highway on Friday.
Mohali deputy commissioner Girish Dayalan has marked a magisterial probe to investigate the presence of inflammable material at the dhaba and fuel theft from the tanker to sub-divisional magistrate Kuldeep Bawa, who will submit a report in a week.
The deceased have been identified as Jaswinder Singh, 35, owner of Rama Punjabi dhaba, and his relatives, Babloo, 20, and Vikram kumar. Another victim, Sandeep Kumar, suffered 80% burns and is admitted at PGIMER, Chandigarh.
“The dhaba owner and his staff used to steal fuel from oil tankers in connivance with the drivers and store it in drums in the eatery’s basement,” said Aashika Jain, additional district magistrate (ADM).
On Friday, they were again taking out fuel from a tanker when there was a spark in the pump, which caused a blast due to the petrol and diesel drums stored in the basement.
Jaswinder and Vikram were killed on the spot, while Babloo succumbed to his injuries at GMCH, Sector 32, Chandigarh. The unidentified tanker driver fled the scene as he heard the explosion.
Two fire tenders were rushed to the spot and the dhaba was sealed. The blast’s impact caused cracks in the building. An evaluation of the structural safety has been ordered.
While dousing the flames, Dera Bassi fire station officer Pardeep Kumar Rana suffered injuries and was admitted to the local civil hospital.
Senior superintendent of police Satinder Singh said they had booked the deceased dhaba owner and the tanker driver under Sections 304 (causing death by negligence), 379 (theft), 420 (cheating) and 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) of the Indian Penal Code.
Deceased dhaba owner was arrested last year
In July last year, police had registered a case against Jaswinder for illegally storing 525 litres of petrol and 630 litres of diesel in his dhaba’s basement.
ADM Jain said an inspection drive will be carried out at all dhabas in the area to check fuel theft.
“Oil smuggling is common in districts of Punjab bordering Chandigarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir due to the price difference. We have for long been informing the Punjab government about this,” said Ashwinder Mongia, president, Mohali District Petroleum Dealers Association.
