Owners booked for Sinnar factory blast

Nashik, May 12 (UNI) Police have booked six persons for culpable homicide, including directors and senior managers of Sinnar-based Premier Explosives where a blast on May 5 left 21 workers dead.

Among those booked are directors Tribhuvanlal Kalia, Mukesh Dhanraj Maheshwari, A N Gupta, Rajkumar Kalia, general manager Binaykrishna Paul and deputy manager Ranghuvir Krishnarao Tamgirala.

They have been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Indian Explosives Act.

The exact cause of the blast has not yet been ascertained, yet the six have been booked as an experts committee, that inquired into the explosion has reached the conclusion that negligence and carelessness on the part of the company owners and officials had led to the accident.

There were a total of 72 employees in the factory, including 37 permanent employees, 20 temporary and 15 contract labourers. The owners are accused of not providing sufficient security and technical education to the employees. Despite a faulty production process, the owners and manager did not rectify the problem.

The managers were in police custody while the directors were still absconding, police said.

UNI