Cylinder heist: Thieves target tea stall amid LPG shortage

Bathinda: With LPG cylinders becoming scarce amid the ongoing supply crisis, they are now turning into prized targets for thieves. In a bizarre theft near Barnala bus stand, two bike-borne men fled with an LPG cylinder stolen from a roadside tea stall.The theft was captured on CCTV cameras, and police are trying to trace the accused.Banwari Lal, a migrant from Rajasthan who runs a tea stall near the bus stand, said he had gone to a nearby shop to deliver tea early on Sunday. When he returned, he found his LPG cylinder missing. He then approached the bus stand police post and urged cops to check CCTV footage.Bus stand police post in-charge ASI Saudagar Singh said that after receiving the complaint, police examined the footage and found two men on a silver-coloured motorcycle taking away the cylinder. Efforts are on to identify the accused and recover the cylinder.The incident comes amid an acute LPG shortage in the region. On Friday morning, a 60-year-old man, Bhushan Kumar, died of a heart attack while waiting in a queue for LPG supplies at Sehna village in the district.