Kerala fire tragedy: Five Puttingal officials surrender

Kollam (Kerala) April 12: Two days after the fireworks tragedy at Puttingal Devi temple in Paravur in Kollam that left 109 people dead and more than 350 injured, five temple officials who were booked earlier by police surrendered late Monday night.

The surrendered include P.S. Jayalal (president), Krishnankutty Pillai (secretary), J. Prasad, Somasundaram Pillai and Ravindran Pillai -- all top office bearers of the temple.

They are now in the custody of the crime branch police.

Paravur police had earlier charged around 30 people including the temple committee members, the contractors of the fireworks display and his workers under charges of culpable homicide.

The temple officials, after the tragic incident that occurred around 3.30 a.m on Sunday, had gone into hiding.

On Sunday, the Kerala government had ordered a judicial probe and a crime branch probe.

IANS