CID to probe Attibele fire tragedy; toll rises to 14, three arrested

The death toll in the firecracker godown blaze at Attibele rose to 14 on Sunday even as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced a “thorough” CID probe into the “big tragedy”. 

At least four people, including the licensee’s son, have been injured. The licensee and his son are among the three arrested. 

Siddaramaiah, who visited the accident spot on Sunday, said prima facie, there was negligence on the part of the licensee. He was allowed “to keep 1,000 kg of fireworks at a time and sell them”, and possibly didn’t have a licence to store large quantities, the CM said. 

The fire broke out around 3.30 pm on Saturday at Shri Balaji Traders, a wholesale firecracker dealer located less than 500 metres from the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border at Attibele on the southern outskirts of Bengaluru. Workers were unloading firecrackers transported from Tamil Nadu’s fireworks hub of Sivakasi ahead of Deepavali at the time. 

The shop, whose licence is owned by Ramaswamy Reddy but operated by his son Naveen Reddy, was filled to the brim with firecrackers worth Rs 40-50 lakh. On Sunday morning, all that was left was a burst-open goods truck, several damaged vehicles, burnt cardboard boxes, burst crackers and nothing but soot. 

Most of the deceased, the CM said, were students. “They had come to earn some money during the vacations and most of them were from Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri in Tamil Nadu. Except for the manager, there were no permanent employees.”

Ramaswamy, his son, and Anil Reddy, who owns the plot, have been arrested, the CM said, adding that a case has been registered under several charges, including culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Two others — Lokesh, the manager, and Jayamma, the building owner — were named in the FIR. 

The government announced an ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh for the kin of each deceased and will also pay for the treatment of the injured.  Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar promised a plan of action about the storage of firecrackers ahead of Deepavali.