Shillong, Oct 26: Panic gripped the Iewduh market or Bara Bazaar on Tuesday afternoon and the shops were shut temporarily due to an abandoned bag with smoke coming out of it in the middle of the traditional market.

People feared that it was a bomb and everyone ran helter-skelter for their lives.

People in Shillong get unnerved whenever they find abandoned objects ever since the IED explosion at Laitumkhrah market on August 10, 2021, in which two people were injured, and discovery of another IED bomb outside the NPP office at Lachumiere on October 4, 2021.

Although the timing of the discovery of the bag wasn’t ascertained but the shopkeepers said they were scared after seeing smoke coming out of an abandoned bag given the recent cases of IEDs around the city. A brave person came forward and took the object out from the bag but the object continued releasing the smoke.

Unsure of what it was, the shopkeepers immediately alerted the police and the police of Syiem of Hima Mylliem, who look after the traditional market. They immediately arrived on the scene and asked all shopkeepers to shut down their shops and vacated the area.

“Not sure about the timing, but there was a bag with smoke coming out of it… then a person came and took out the object from the bag but I couldn’t make out what it was… the police of Syiem of Hima Mylliem was called and they came promptly and closed all the shops and condoned off the area,” narrated Pompy Modak, a shop keeper who’s shop is near the site of the incident. Later, the object was identified as a nitrogen gas cylinder. An official under the case of anonymity said a person had kept the nitrogen gas cylinder in one of the shops because he had to run for an errand.

Meanwhile, where has been no official statement from the state police or the office of the Syiem of Hima Mylliem on the incident.