Incident occurred around 1pm when court premises were packed with advocates, attendants, typists and people coming there for work

At least two persons, including an advocate, were killed and several were injured when an electricity supply transformer exploded at Patna district and sessions court in Bihar on Wednesday.

Patna High Court Chief Justice K. Vinod Chandran called a high-level meeting over the incident. He is slated to visit the district court to get a first-hand account and meet the victims and the agitating lawyers later in the evening.

The incident occurred around 1pm when the court premises were packed with advocates, attendants, typists and people coming there for work. There was a sudden explosion in the transformer located near gate number one.

Advocate Devendra Prasad, who was differently-abled, was scalded and died close to the transformer while others suffered severe burns.

The other deceased is yet to be identified.

Lawyers and other people who suffered burns were rushed to nearby Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH).<-p>

Panic prevailed after the blast and there was a melee in which a prisoner brought for being produced before a court tried to escape.

Fire tenders rushed after getting the information and doused the flames that had engulfed the transformer.

“A notary Devendra Prasad died on the spot. Three to four people have sustained burn injuries, and have been admitted to the PMCH. We are trying to get the body of the deceased for an inquest, but the lawyers are staging a protest and preventing us from taking away the body,” Patna town deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Ashok Kumar Singh told reporters.

The angry lawyers were staging a sit-in protest at the entrance of the court premises after locking the gates at the time of filing the report.