SCRAP BLAST KILLS 2 IN AMRITSAR
AMRITSAR: Two persons were killed and five injured in a blast at a house in Luv Kush Nagar area of Amritsar around 6.30pm on Monday. The scrap was brought from the Sadar police station, it is learnt. While Rattan Lal, 65, and Rajinder Kumar, 40, were killed, Laddu, 4, Gurnam Singh, Manjit Kaur, Tarsem Lal and Vijay Gubral are injured.
AMRITSAR: Two persons were killed and five injured in a blast at a house in Luv Kush Nagar area of Amritsar around 6.30pm on Monday. The scrap was brought from the Sadar police station, it is learnt.
While Rattan Lal, 65, and Rajinder Kumar, 40, were killed, four-year-old boy Laddu, Gurnam Singh, Manjit Kaur, Tarsem Lal and Vijay Gubral, all residents of Putlighar locality in Luv Kush Nagar, were injured.
DC Shivdular Singh Dhillon and commissioner of police (CP) Sukhchain Singh Gill rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation. Area residents said Gurnam Singh, a home guards jawan, brought the scrap, including files, liquor bottles, firecrackers etc from the Sadar police station to sell them to a junk dealer, whose shop is situated opposite his house.
Before selling the scrap, Gurnam wanted to extract some material from it.
He also took the help of Rattan Lal and Rajinder. Gurnam scattered the scrap outside his relative Manjit’s house and sold liquor bottle and files, said area residents.
“After being objected by neighbours, Gurnam took rest of the scrap to the courtyard. Perhaps they pulled a thread of an explosive, presumably a hand grenade, resulting in a blast,” Deepak Kumar, a neighbour said. The police should have checked the scrap before handing it over to Gurnam, he added. DCP Jagmohan Singh, however, claimed that the blast took place at a junk dealer’s shop. “We are investigating the matter,” he said.
The neighbours said the police reached the spot in 15 minutes and took most items with it.
Rajinder is survived by three children and wife. Laddu is grandson of Rattan Lal, who was killed in the blast.
Expressing grief over the incident, chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh announced to give ₹2 lakh each to the kin of the deceased. Besides, the state government will bear treatment expenses of injured.