HYDERABAD: Frustrated over rejection of his marriage proposal, a youngster allegedly tried to kill his former lover and her relatives by leaking gas into the latter's house and attempting to explode it at Tukaramgate on Wednesday.

While the woman -- Usha -- escaped unhurt, her uncle Mohan Rao sustained burns on his legs, as the leaked gas caught fire in his one-room house.

Close call

"Fortunately, the gas caught fire before it filled the entire house and thus a major accident was averted," Gopalapuram ACP Mohd. Tajuddin said.

The youth in question, Kishore, went to Rao's house at Vadderabasthi in the early hours of the day.

"He stole a liquefied petroleum gas cylinder from the mess where he was working and brought it along with him," the ACP explained.

He placed the cylinder alongside the house, pushed the pipe inside through the window and opened the knob around 3 a.m. A tin of kerosene that was found along with the half-emptied cylinder at the spot suggested that he might have planned to pour kerosene and set the house on fire, the police said.

Rao woke up apparently due to the smell of the gas that gradually began to fill the house. "We are not yet clear if switching on lights by Rao or lighting matchstick by Kishore triggered the fire, but suddenly fire broke out inside," Mr. Tajuddin said. Usha, Rao's wife Padma and their two children escaped unhurt.

Police launch search

Kishore met Usha while he was working in a mess at S.R. Nagar and both decided to get married. Usha's mother died a few years ago and her father was living separately. Recently, the woman told her uncle that she changed her mind and turned down the marriage proposal.

The police booked an attempt to murder case against the mess worker and are on the lookout for him.

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