- Friday, May 02, 2025
Police found that the warehouse owner Deepak Mohnani was held three years ago for alleged involvement in a cricket betting racket
By: India Weekly
THE GUJARAT government has formed a Special Investigation Team to probe the warehouse explosion that killed 21 people near Deesa town on Tuesday (1).
Meanwhile the forensic examination of the area found a small container of aluminium powder, one of the ingredients to make firecrackers, at the Deepak Traders warehouse, officials said.
The SIT, headed by IAS officer Bhavin Pandya, will submit its report to the state government in 15 days after probing various aspects.
The government notification stated that the SIT would probe the exact cause of the explosion, whether the warehouse owner had permission to manufacture firecrackers and followed all the related laws.
It will also confirm whether an inspection was conducted by officials and nail the responsibility for negligence that led to the tragedy.
Police said that forensic investigation detected traces of aluminum powder, one of the ingredients to make firecrackers, at the spot which apparently caused the explosion and blaze which ripped through the warehouse near Deesa town on Tuesday.
Apart from aluminium powder, a team from the forensic science laboratory (FSL) also found yellow dextrin powder from the warehouse where firecrackers were stored, a police official told reporters.
Gujarat health minister Rushikesh Patel told reporters in Gandhinagar that the warehouse owner brought the raw material to the premises after March 12, when police conducted an inspection and gave negative feedback (for licence renewal).
“The owner had a licence to use the godown for storing firecrackers till December 31. When he applied for renewal, police inspected the premises on March 12 and gave a negative report, following which the licence was not renewed,” Patel told reporters.
After that inspection, the accused brought the raw material and stored it in the warehouse illegally, said the minister.
“During the last 15 to 17 days, the owner brought aluminum powder and yellow dextrin into the godown without the knowledge of authorities,” he said.
According to Patel, the accused prima facie used this material to make firecrackers. “Forensic experts are conducting a detailed investigation in that direction,” he added.
The warehouse, where the explosion took place around 9.45 am on Tuesday (1), is located in an industrial area near Deesa town, around 30 km from the Banaskantha district headquarters.
The blast was so powerful that it sent body parts of workers flying 200-300 metres away.
Family members of some of the workers who stayed on the premises were crushed to death after heavy chunks of the RCC roof slab fell on them, officials said.
Owners arrested
The police arrested warehouse owners Deepak Mohnani and his father Khubchand Mohnani from neighbouring Sabarkantha district on Tuesday.
They were booked on the charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and under relevant sections of the Explosives Act and the Explosive Substances Act, police had said.
During the investigation, police found that Deepak Mohnani was held nearly three years ago for his alleged involvement in a cricket betting racket, police said.
The police are also inspecting the bank transactions and call records of the accused.
Victims from Madhya Pradesh
Hearses carrying the remains of 21 people left for their villages in Madhya Pradesh early Wednesday (2).
The deceased, which included five children, hailed from the two villages of Sandalpur and Hadia in Dewas and Harda districts of Madhya Pradesh, officials said.
Chandrasinh Nayak, who works in a plastic factory at Dholka in Ahmedabad, lost his daughter, son-in-law, grandchildren Radha (3) and Abhishek (10), and two other members of his son-in-law’s family in the tragedy.
While his daughter and her husband started working at the warehouse recently, her mother-in-law had worked there before, said Nayak who was barely managing to control his tears.
“Ten (of the deceased) people were from Sandalpur, and 11 from Hadia,” he said.
Rajesh Nayak, a survivor, said the explosion took place moments after the workers reached the warehouse around 9.45 am on Tuesday.
“Ambulances carrying the bodies of the deceased have started leaving for their villages. So far ten ambulances with two caskets each have left,” said a police official.
The hearses had police vehicles escorting them.
Madhya Pradesh minister Nagar Singh Chauhan, who reached Deesa along with Gujarat industries minister Balwantsinh Rajput, said the governments of both the states are providing relief to the victims and their families.
“This is a very sad incident, and the entire country stands with the affected families….People from Madhya Pradesh visit Gujarat in search of jobs and vice versa. The government has taken this incident very seriously,” Chouhan said. (PTI)
