BENGALURU: A 52-year-old housekeeping staffer at a private college hostel in Adugodi near Dairy Circle lost his leg after a container with chemicals exploded as he was searching for boxes at a garbage dump on the roadside on Sunday afternoon.
The injured, Narasimhaiah, is a resident of Chandrappa Layout. The blast ripped his right leg off his body, and he was rushed to Sanjay Gandhi Hospital.
A senior police officer said that the blast occurred at Govardhana Layout around 3.30 pm. It could be because of the chemical container thrown in the garbage getting heated and exploding. Narasimhaiah who was next to it searching for boxes was severely injured.
“Nothing else was damaged in the blast, and prima facie, it is not a purposeful blast. Forensic Sciences Lab (FSL) experts visited the spot and examined chemicals in the area. A suo motu case has been lodged against unknown persons at the Adugodi police station for causing grievous injuries to the public, negligence and not disposing of the chemical in a scientific way. The staff and owners of marble companies around might have thrown the chemical container into the garbage pile,” the officer said.
Shivakumar, an eyewitness, said that passersby rushed Narasimhaiah to the hospital in an auto.
“There was no fire and a yellow plastic bag was torn into pieces. We immediately alerted the police. There are granite factories and glass cutting shops around the area and they use chemicals. They might have thrown the container and it exploded because of summer heat,” he said.
City Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao tweeted, “Minor explosion of an abandoned chemical liquid container at Adugodi used for cutting granite. One injured and nothing to worry or panic.”
Manjunath, who helped the injured reach hospital, told TNIE, “I was drinking tea at a nearby shop when I noticed an elderly person screaming for help. I rushed and pulled him out immediately. I called an auto driver who took the injured man in his vehicle and reached the hospital around 4 pm. He was admitted and surgery was conducted. The doctors said his condition is stable.”
He alleged that with Metro construction work going on at the same spot, workers might have thrown some explosive material into the garbage dump. The police should question the Merto staff too, he said.
Narasimhaiah’s granddaughter Devi said, “He works at a hostel of a private college and comes home around 6 pm. Since it was a Sunday, he left the house around 3 pm. Some people came home and told us that my grandfather was injured in a blast. He is the sole breadwinner of our family.”
Blasts in the past
May 2019
A deadly explosion caused by a chemical claimed the life of 45-year-old washerman Venkatesh in front of Rajarajeshwarinagar MLA Munirathna R’s office-residence in Vyalikaval. Investigations revealed that the chemical was suspected to be methyl ethyl ketone peroxide (MEKP), a highly explosive substance.
October 2018
Dakshinamurthy (59) and Akilesh (9) were injured in an explosion at an under construction site in Minerva Mills Quarters on Magadi Road. The construction site belongs to Prestige Group and the engineer had used gelatin sticks to break rocks in order to lay the foundation.
July 2018
An unused gelatin stick caused an explosion on the premises of HAL in Lal Bahadur Shastri Nagar causing residents nearby to panic. Police found that workers had blasted rocks at the spot three months ago using gelatine sticks.
January 2016
An unidentified package near Cauvery Junction, on Ballari Road near Sadashivanagar, caused panic. Veerabadraswamy, who was cleaning his house, noticed it and suspected it to be a bomb. He called the police, who after carrying out investigations for three hours, found that it was a bottle of liquor, most likely of Japanese origin.