Hyderabad: A ragpicker was killed when a plastic bag suspected to contain chemicals exploded in Rajen-dranagar on Sunday. The victim, Syed Khaja Ali, is suspected to have picked up the bag somewhere in the locality.
His arms were shattered under the force of the blast and he suffered burns to his chest. He was admitted to the Osmania General Hospital where he died while undergoing treatment. The incident occurred on the Shiva-rampally-Aramghar road at Rajendranagar at about 10.45 am on the footpath between Pillars 279 and 280 of the PVNR Express-way. Ali tried to open the bag while sitting beside a truck when the bag exploded. Locals informed the police through Dial 100 and teams immediately rushed to the spot.
Police said Ali, who was homeless, used to collect scrap and sell it at shops to earn a livelihood. He used to sleep near a temple at night and roam in the area during the day while looking for scrap.
By that time, videos and photographs of the explosion site had gone viral on social media, that triggered more fear.
On Saturday night, a Ganesha nimajjanam procession had passed on the road. The proximity of the blast, whose origins have not been confirmed yet, to the religious event, caused some panic, said a police official who was inspecting the scene.
As the cause of the explosion was unclear and many pieces of metal were found at the site, senior officials including Cyberabad police commissioner V.C. Sajjanar, Intelligence IG V. Naveen Chand, Shamshabad DCP N. Prakash Reddy, and Counter-Intelligence Deputy Inspector General Rajesh Kumar and others inspected the site.
“There is a manhole in which garbage has accumulated. This caused suspicion that the bag had been placed in the manhole and it exploded when the victim tried to open it. Later, on verification of CCTV footage, it was found that the victim brought the bag from another place,” said a senior police official from Cyberabad commissionerate.
“It was seen in the CCTV footage that at about 10.20 am, the victim was walking empty-handed on the pavement towards Aramghar. He returned after 10 to 15 minutes carrying a bag, which is suspected to have contained the material which exploded,” said Shamshabad DCP N. Prakash Reddy.
The Clues team has recovered several metal pieces which looked similar to that of tins used to store organic solvents.
