Locals ransacked the shop of a LPG dealer Milan Bose, who owns Bongaon Gas Service in the New Market area.

Locals said that past few months there has been a LPG crisis in the area. They alleged that they were denied LPG cylinders even after waiting for four to five months.

They said Bose, who is an Indian Oil Corporation dealer, was selling gas cylinders at a higher price to commercial establishments like eateries, restaurants and even auto-rickshaws.

Bose, however, denied the allegation. He said that he had introduced a system of issuing slips. Consumers could book gas and a slip would be issued to them in return.

They would have to take the slip and go to the godown and collect the cylinders instead of the cylinders being delivered at their homes.

“Black marketeers had taken this opportunity to book LPG in bulk and using these slips to lift cylinders and selling them in the black market. When the oil company objected to the system, I stopped issuing slips which infuriated them. It was they who brought goons to vandalise my shop,” Bose alleged.