Delhi fire: 14 victims identified, owner held

Prateek Chauhan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 21

The bodies of 14 out of 17 persons who died in a major fire at a factory in Bawana Industrial Area here on Saturday evening have been identified and the owner arrested, police said on Sunday.

Manoj Jain, who ran the factory that witnessed city’s worst fire tragedy since the 1997 Uphaar Cinema inferno, was arrested from his house late on Saturday and was today produced in a local court, which remanded him in one-day judicial custody.

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Commissioner of Delhi Police Amulya Patnaik has transferred the case to the Crime Branch for investigation. Rohini DCP Rajneesh Gupta said initial probe suggested the factory manufactured “cold firecrackers” used in stage shows and Holi celebrations. Jain had rented the factory from January 1, the DCP said.

Fourteen of those killed have been identified as Baby Devi (40), Afshana (35), Sonam (23), Reeta (18), Madeena (55), Rajjo (65) Dharma Devi (45), Suraj (20), Ravkant (18), Sukhda (42), Khusna (47), Soni (21), Rohit (19), Sanjeet (19) and Ajeet (22), he said.

Eleven bodies were handed over to the relatives after post-mortem, the DCP said. Three bodies — one of a female and two male — are yet to be identified, the DCP said.

A Forensic Science Laboratory team with the help of police conducted extensive search of the premises for four hours today to ascertain whether the firecrackers were meant for use in stage shows or otherwise, he said.

The fire had started in the storage unit on the ground floor of the two-storey building and ripped through the structure, said a senior official.

Jain has been booked under Sections 285 (negligent conduct), 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 337 (causing hurt) of the IPC and Explosives Act at the Bawana police station. The maximum punishment under the sections is 10 years. The police were on the lookout for Jain’s partner Lalit Goel.

The Delhi Government has announced Rs 5 lakh for the kin of the deceased and Rs 1 lakh for each of the injured even as the ruling Aam Aadmi Party and the BJP indulged in blame-game over the incident. While the government has already a probe, the Delhi Congress on its part has demanded a judicial probe.