Delhi Police probing if hydrogen cylinder blast added to impact

New Delhi, April 20 Delhi Police have begun a probe to find out whether a hydrogen cylinder explosion could have added to the intensity of a fire that killed three people in an east Delhi colony two days ago.

Police are sending the remains of a second cylinder found at a residential house in Gandhi Nagar for forensic examination. A cooking gas cylinder explosion on Monday night killed a woman and two men, and left 11 people injured, on the second floor of a four-storey house.

The remains of the second cylinder found at the spot are to be sent to the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory (CFSL) to know the name of the manufacturer and the gas it contained, police said on Wednesday. 

"We will send the remains of the cylinder to the CFSL to know what gas it contained and also know the name of the manufacturer of the cylinder," a senior police official involved in the probe told IANS.

Prima facie the cylinder seemed to have contained hydrogen gas, which is mainly used for cutting iron, a police officer said.

According to police, after a cooking gas cylinder exploded around 8 p.m. on Monday, another cylinder too exploded on the second floor of the residential building in Gandhi Nagar. The building belongs to an advocate, Sanjay Kashyap.

Police said the fire started from the second floor where some labourers were cooking food. The impact of the explosion was such that the walls of that house and the one opposite it on the same floor collapsed, police said.

Police have registered a case under Sections 285 (Negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter), 337 (Causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 338 (Causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 304 A (Causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code.

On Monday night, Delhi had seen another fire at Bhagwan Nagar in Sunlight Colony in southeast Delhi, in which three people -- a woman and two children -- were burnt to death. Another woman succumbed to her injuries on Tuesday. The fire caused by a cooking gas cylinder blast also left 23 other people injured.