Two killed in blast at scrap collector’s house in Patiala

Witnesses said the blast occurred when victim Mohammed Mumtiaz sought to break open a purportedly empty chemical bottle with a hammer.

A 25-year-old scrap collector and a two-year-old boy from his neighbourhood were killed, and four other children were injured, in a blast at his house near Sanauri Adda in Royal City locality of Patiala around 9.30 am on Monday. Witnesses said the blast occurred when victim Mohammed Mumtiaz sought to break open a purportedly empty chemical bottle with a hammer, though deputy commissioner Kumar Amti, who reached the spot with police officers, has ordered a magisterial probe.

Police officials inspecting the blast site at a scrap collector’s house near Sanauri Adda in Royal City of Patiala on Monday morning. (Bharat Bhushan/HT)

“Experts on explosives were called in to pinpoint the reason,” said S Boopathi, senior superintendent of police. The DC announced ₹1 lakh each as compensation to the families of the deceased, and ₹25,000 each for the injured, besides free treatment.

Mumtiaz and the child, Mohammed Shamir, who was playing near the house, were reportedly killed on the spot, and three of the injured were identified as Nura Hasan, Afreen and Babbu, all of them below the age of 10, said police. One of the injured is in a critical state, said the police.

Meanwhile, the Kotwali area police registered an FIR under sections 304A (causing death by negligence) and 337 (causing hurt by rash act) of the Indian Penal Code against unidentified person(s). The probe into reason of the blast will be carried out by sub-divisional magistrate Anmol Singh Dhaliwal, said the DC.