New Delhi: An autorickshaw exploded under mysterious circumstances in Karnataka’s Mangalore on Saturday.
Visuals of the incident show that the blast occurred after the autorickshaw came to a stop on a road and near a building where construction work was going on.
The incident took place in the Naguri area near Mangalore police station. A broken cooker was found inside the vehicle.
According to report, the driver and a passenger sustained burn injuries and are currently undergoing treatment at a hospital.
City Police Commissioner Sasikumar, as quoted by news agency ANI said, “It is early to jump to conclusions. The driver alleged he spotted the fire. They (driver and passenger) are undergoing treatment and are unable to speak now. We request the public not to spread rumours. They should remain calm and not panic. We will update once we speak to them.”
A passenger was reportedly carrying a plastic bag which caught fire and spread to the autorickshaw.
According to the Mangaluru Police, they are conducting a thorough probe into the incident and checking the contents of the bag that the passenger was carrying. A forensics team has also collected the samples from the site.
“The FSL team has been called to probe the reason behind the fire. The public should not pay heed to any rumours,” Sasikumar said.
(With inputs from Pinky Rajpurohit)