Kantharaju, 28, a fabricator, was killed and his wife Jyothi seriously injured after an LPG cylinder exploded at their house in Sannakkibayalyu near Kamakshipalya on Thursday morning.

A native of Magadi, Kantharaju had married Jyothi eight months ago and shifted to a rented house in Sannakkibayalu recently.

On Thursday morning at around 7.30, Kanthraju switched on the gas stove to prepare coffee.

On realising there was no milk at home, he forgetfully left the gas stove on to fetch milk from a nearby shop. On returning, he did not realise the gas was on and lit a matchstick to light the stove, leading to the explosion.

Besides the entire house, Kantharaju was also up in flames. On hearing the explosion, Jyothi ran to rescue him but was engulfed in flames, police said.

Neighbours who heard the explosion rushed to the spot and alerted the fire station and the police, before shifting the couple to a nearby hospital. Two fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the blaze.

While doctors declared Kantharaju ‘brought dead’, Jyothi, who had suffered 35 per cent burns, is being treated at Victoria Hospital, police said.

Jyothi, in her statement, said her husband did all the cooking at home. She said though she could smell gas, she did not wake up to switch off the stove and went back to sleep.
Ravishankar, a neighbour of Kantharaju, said the couple had locked the door from inside.

“It took a while to break the door open. The kitchen being congested, they could not escape and were stuck inside. We found them burnt and sitting in a corner of the kitchen,” he added.

Kamakshipalya police have registered a case.