BENGALURU: A 12-year-old boy suffocated to death and his brother fell unconscious on Friday morning due to a leak in an LPG cylinder, in their room in HAL police station limits.Police booked a case against the gas agency owner who had refilled the cylinder on Thursday evening. The deceased is identified as Sameer, a Class 6 student. Shamshir (5) is recovering at a private hospital in Madiwala.
The police said that around 7.30am, the boys’ mother Kalavathi, a domestic help, went out to work. She returned home and found that gas had leaked from the cylinder. Since the room had no window, the gas was contained within the space and her sons had fallen unconscious.
When efforts to wake up her children went in vain, Kalavathi alerted her neighbours who broke open the door. They rushed the children to a private hospital, where Sameer was declared brought dead. Shamshir is said to be out of danger.
The family was living in a rented room, located under a staircase of a building in Jagadishnagar.Kalavathi told police personnel that she had left for work at 6am on Thursday, and asked Sameer to lock the door from the inside. Sameer had gone back to sleep after locking the door.
Mom wanted to educate her kids
Rakesh, a relative of Kalavathi, told police that she came to the city four years ago after her husband Padam died due to ill-health in Nepal. Kalavathi (36) dreamt of giving her children a good education and decided to work as a domestic help.
She arranged for money from her relatives and managed to get admission for her kids in a private school. She was living in a 5x7ft room. Kalavathi told police that she had refilled the small cylinder from a nearby shop at 7pm on Thursday, and that the owner was into illegal LPG refilling. When police reached his shop, he had fled the area. “Efforts are on to nab him,” the police officer added.