Bengaluru: Dumped liquid causes fire, blast in open drain

A scrap dealer was arrested after a highly inflammable chemical that he had dumped in an open drain caused a major fire in northern Bengaluru on Saturday, a senior police officer said.

Residents of Kasturi Nagar, Rajagopalanagar, panicked after hearing a blast and seeing flames in an open drain around 11.45 am. Tension gripped the locality for a while before firefighters arrived and doused the fire. There were no casualties.

A police investigation found that local resident G Swamy, who sells scrap for a living, had emptied 20 cans of a liquid into the drain. Minutes later, residents heard a huge blast followed by an inferno in the drain. The fire quickly spread to an adjacent open area, including a park. Two fire tenders rushed to the spot and put out the fire.

Rajagopalanagar police arrested Swamy based on the testimony of one Ravikumar who said he had seen him emptying the cans into the drain. Swamy was waiting to dispose of the cans of chemicals and it didn't occur to him that the liquid will cause a fire, the officer said.