Police at the site of the firecracker godown blaze in Attibele.
Credit: DH Photo/S K Dinesh
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Monday officially took over the probe into the Attibele firecracker tragedy that killed 14 workers, a day after the announcement by Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
“We have taken over the entire probe,” Dr M A Saleem, Director General of Police (DGP), CID, Karnataka, told the DH. “A full–fledged investigation would be conducted by the CID.”
The investigation agency also formed a team with senior officers, including an Inspector General of Police (IGP)-ranked officer, Superintendent of Police (SP)-ranked officers, and other personnel.
Fourteen people from the neighbouring Tamil Nadu were charred to death after a firecracker shop-turned-godown burst into flames on Saturday afternoon at Attibele in the southern outskirts of Bengaluru near the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border. The incident occurred when firecrackers brought from Tamil Nadu’s Sivakasi were being unloaded at Sri Balaji Traders around 3.30 pm.
On Sunday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, along with his deputy DK Shivakumar and Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy visited the spot and announced the CID probe.
"There was negligence on the part of the licence holder," the CM said. "It is a big tragedy. The CID will conduct a thorough probe. They were allowed to keep only 1,000 kg of fireworks at a time and sell them. I think they did not have a licence for storage.”
Ramaswamy Reddy, the licensee, his son Naveen Reddy who was operating the business and was also one among the four injured, and the building owner Anil Reddy were arrested by the police. The FIR booked under multiple charges including culpable homicide not amounting to murder also named Lokesh, the manager, and Jayamma, also the building owner.
Speculations were rife that a low-hanging electric wire or a spark in a UPS unit led to the fire. A report by the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) on the cause is awaited, a senior police officer told DH, adding that the Fire and Emergency Services would provide support where needed.
CID probe team
Inspector General of Police (IGP) - 1
Superintendent of Police (SP) - 2
Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) and Inspectors - 4