Rewari factory blast toll rises to 16; no arrest made so far

Tribune News Service

Ravinder Saini

Rewari, April 1

The death toll in the Dharuhera factory blast case has risen to 16, with two more workers succumbing to their injuries in the past 48 hours. The district police are awaiting forensic report of the incident to move forward in the case.

No arrests have been made in the case so far even after the lapse of two weeks when the case was registered against the factory’s contractor and others on the complaint of victims.

“One of the injured has died at the PGIMS, Rohtak, while another succumbed to his injuries at his native village in Uttar Pradesh. We are waiting for the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report. Records about the factory owners, contractor and other employees have been taken during the investigation,” said Jagdish Chand, SHO, Dharuhera Police Station.

He said a three-member team of the forensic experts from Madhuban (Karnal) had inspected the spare parts manufacturing factory on March 27 to ascertain the cause of the explosion and who were responsible for this fatal incident. The team had assured us of sending the report within a week but it was yet to be received, he added.

“The forensic experts will prepare a detailed report keeping in view all things from technical point of view, so it may take a couple of days more,” the SHO added.

Sources said, initially the case was registered under Sections 287 (negligent conduct with machinery) and 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), but now Section 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) and Section 304 (2) had been added to the FIR.

As many as 39 workers suffered burn injuries in the explosion of a dust collector at a factory in Dharuhera on March 16. A majority of the workers belonged to other states. Some of them were sole breadwinners for their families. The CM had ordered a magisterial probe into the incident. Later, a district official committee in its inquiry found lapses pertaining to norms of industrial safety. Safety gears were not provided to the workers.

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