Thiruvananthapuram | A 19-kg commercial cooking gas cylinder was allegedly stolen from a hotel in the busy Chala market area here in the early hours of Friday, police said.

The theft of cooking gas was reported at VS Hotel in at 2 am on Friday amid the worsening LPG shortage in the country following the war in West Asia.

Vimal Kumar, owner of VS Hotel, told PTI that the accused entered the premises after breaking open the door of the kitchen area and took away a filled LPG cylinder.

"The kitchen door is at the front portion of the shop. After entering inside, he switched off the electricity to make the CCTV camera dysfunctional. However, the camera was connected to a UPS," Kumar said.

According to him, realising that the CCTV was still functioning, the accused changed the direction of the camera.

"There were three cylinders in the kitchen. Two were in use and one was a filled cylinder. He left after taking the filled cylinder," Kumar said.

With the LPG shortage and the theft, the restaurant has been forced to shut down operations.

"Since we have a limited stock of LPG cylinders now, only biryani was cooked on Friday. We are closing the restaurant from Saturday as there is no LPG left and fresh cylinders are not available," he said.

Kumar has filed a complaint with the Fort police.

CCTV visuals of the incident have also been handed over to the police.

"We suspect the involvement of another restaurant which has rivalry with us. However, let the police investigate the matter," Kumar said.