Police officials and dog squad at the spot soon after the explosion. Photo by ANI. Police officials and dog squad at the spot soon after the explosion. Photo by ANI.

A man was killed in a blast outside Karnataka Congress MLA Munirathna Naidu’s residence in Vyalikaval in Bangalore on Sunday. Police says they are investigating the cause of the blast which occurred at around 9.15 am.

Bangalore City Police Commissioner T Suneel Kumar identified the blast victim as Venkatesh, a 56-year-old washerman. A forensic team has reached the blast site and further investigation is underway, Kumar said. According to the FIR filed at Vyalikaval police station, the victim was a resident of Dobhighat Quarters at Malleshwaram.

According to eyewitnesses, the intensity of the blast was such that the victim’s body was mutilated. Police officials at the spot said the explosion took place next to the parking area of the MLA’s house.

The nameplate outside MLA Munirathna’s house in 11th B Cross in Vyalikaval. Express Photo The nameplate outside MLA Munirathna’s house in 11th B Cross in Vyalikaval. Express Photo

In May last year, Munirathna won the bye-elections from the Rajarajeshwari Nagar constituency by a margin of more than 25,000 votes. He was among those accused of allegedly printing “fake” voter IDs after close to 9,000 of them were found at an apartment in Jalahalli.

Munirathna is also the producing Kurukshetra, a mega-budget mythological movie with an all-star cast led by Darshan. The multi-lingual film is preparing for a worldwide release later this year.

At the same time, Vyalikaval police have confirmed that MLA Munirathna was not there at his residence when the incident took place. “After the preliminary investigation, it has been found that the blast took place from a room where chemicals were stored. It is still unclear whether the chemicals were stored to make sets for the MLA’s film sets or to create a peacock statue nearby. We are looking into these versions now. The victim was speaking on the phone as the blast took place,” policemen at the station told Indianexpress.com.

However, the FIR that has been filed does not include the MLA’s name. When asked about this, the police official said, “We haven’t received any complaint from the deceased’s family on this. A suo motu case has been registered under the Explosives Act.”

More details awaited.

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