Sunil Haleangady
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore
Mangalore, May 6: The Mulky police on Monday May 5 arrested the owner of a stone quarry at Nelligudde, Aikala, near Kinnigoli, and the supervisor who was overseeing the quarry concerned, on charges of causing the death of two workers.
Santosh Menezes from Bondel in the city, and Dennis Menezes, who was in charge of the quarry concerned, were arrested.
File Photo
It may be recalled that an explosion that had ripped through the residential huts of quarry workers had shredded the bodies of two persons working at this quarry.
A case relating to the explosion had been registered on the basis of a complaint filed by Nagaraj from Shimoga, a worker engaged at this quarry, and Mulky police circle inspector, Ramachandra Nayak, is leading the investigation. The policemen and experts in explosives visited the spot near the quarry and conducted extensive inspection on Monday, it is learnt.
It is gathered that the bodies of Erichamma (53) from Konagapadi in Salem, Tamil Nadu, and her son, Paraman Uttandy (25), who had been killed in the explosion, were handed over to their kin after conducting post mortem at Mulky primary health centre, for being taken to their native places in Tamil Nadu. Four persons who were injured in the incident, Nagaraj from Shimoga, and his wife, Yashoda, as well as Pooja and Ramesh, who were neighbours of the deceased workers, were provided treatment at Mulky government hospital on Monday.
The policemen say they are yet to come to a definite conclusion about the specific causes for this explosion. They said that fragments of explosive materials, pieces of bodies, and other things which were found from the spot with the help of explosives experts and sniffer dogs, had been dispatched to forensic lab for testing. They added that they found only the regulator of gas cylinder at the home of the deceased, and that the remaining things were found from the spot of explosion. Ammonium nitrate, gelatin sticks and explosive materials used for detonation purposes in stone quarries were found from the room of the house, and the police suspect that a spark from the gas stove would have ignited the explosion. They said initially, the owner and his supervisor have been arrested on the charge of illegal storage of explosive materials.
They said that the arrested persons would be produced in the court after interrogation. The policemen want to unearth the connection of the arrested persons if any, with Biju Thomas from Kerala, who had been arrested on similar charges from Karkala recently. They said that district level officers would take steps against quarries violating legal provisions after gathering information about all the stone quarries located near Aikala, duly checking whether all the safety measures have been adopted there, based on police report. They said that illegal stone quarries would face legal action.
In view of these sudden developments, grief-stricken quarry workers chose to suspend work on Monday and stay home to mourn the death of their close ones. Some were seen engaged in repairing houses, which were damaged in the explosion.
Controversy over arrest: BJP Dakshina Kannada district vice president, Umanath Kotian, addressing a public meeting at Haleangady on Monday, levelled serious allegation against state minister, Abhaychandra Jain, relating to this case. Kotian accused Jain of trying to prevail on the policemen from Mulky station, who were about to register a case against the owner of the quarry concerned and conduct inquiry, against arresting the accused.