Dera Bassi tragedy: Firm GM, director seek anticipatory bail

Mohali, April 27

The general manager and a director of Federal Agro Industries Private Limited, Behera, have applied for an anticipatory bail. Four employees of the firm had died due to asphyxiation when they entered a septic tank of the Dera Bassi-based meat plant on April 21.

PS Hameed, the GM, and his son Mohammad Shahid Hameed, a director, have applied for anticipatory bail the court of an Additional Sessions Judge. The court has sought the police response to the application. The next date of hearing has been fixed for April 29.

Janak Thapa (35) and Sridhar Pandey (25), both from Nepal; Kurban Ansari (35) of Rohtas in Bihar; and plumber Manak Singh (25) of Behera died one by one as they got down into the septic tank for cleaning. When four workers failed to emerge from the tank, a fifth worker, Ayam Kumar, descended but felt breathlessness and was pulled up.

Abhinav Sood, Nitesh Jhanjaria and Anmol Gupta, the lawyers for the applicants, averred that the deceased were trained workers and had gone down to clean salt which had accumulated in the tank. They stated that all precautionary measures were taken and the workers were provided all safety equipment, including oxygen mask, gumboots, gloves and harness, mandatory at the time of cleaning the tank. It has been stated that the tank was regularly cleaned every week and the deaths were purely accidental.

The advocates claimed that Mohammed Shahid Hameed and his father, also a director of the firm, had been implicated in the case merely because of their capacity in their company.

It is pertinent to mention here that the incident had occurred on April 21 and the very next day the police had booked Kaamil Qureshi, the firm owner, PS Hameed and Mohammed Shahid Hameed under Sections 304 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code.

Jaskanwal Singh, SHO, Dera Bassi police station, said the trio had been evading arrest since the accident and raids were being conducted by various teams, which had been dispatched to Uttar Pradesh, to nab them.

What their lawyers claim

• The four employees, who died due to asphyxiation at the meat plant, were trained workers
• All precautionary measures were taken and they were provided all safety equipment, including oxygen mask, gumboots, gloves & harness
• The tank was cleaned every week; the deaths were purely accidental
• The applicants, a father-son duo, were implicated in the case merely because of their capacity in their company