Representative image of a police officer.
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Shivamogga (Karnataka): A minor explosion in Shiralakoppa town in Shikaripura Taluk here on Sunday sent people into a panic but police found that the low-intensity blast was caused by gun powder stored in a bag, which is usually used by farmers to drive away wild boar that destroy their plants.
Police said a farmer couple Roopa and Umesh had brought the gun powder to Shiralakoppa and kept it at a vendor's shop during the weekly fair in the town.
"Our preliminary investigation revealed that the gun powder exploded due to heat. Farmers use gun powder to drive away wild boar from their farms. We have registered a case and started an investigation," Shivamogga Superintendent of Police G K Mithun Kumar told PTI.
Some media reports had claimed that there was a kerosene stove blast in the town, but the SP dismissed them as baseless.