Delhi Police Files Chargesheet in Bawana Fire Case That Killed 17

As many as 17 people, including 10 women, were burnt alive or asphyxiated and 30 others injured in the fire.

Owner of the factory, Manoj Jain.

(Photo: ANI)

Delhi Police has filed a chargesheet on the fire incident at a firecracker factory in Bawana.

Seventeen people were killed in a fire that broke out in Delhi’s Bawana Industrial Area, engulfing multiple structures on the evening of Saturday, 20 January. A man who was apprehended by the police in connection with the fire had told the cops that he took the factory premises on rent and was running it alone.

As many as 17 people, including 10 women, were burnt alive or asphyxiated and 30 others injured at a fire in a plastic warehouse. The fire, which started at the storage unit on the ground floor of a two-storey building, had ripped through the structure.

Factory owner Manoj Jain was sent to judicial custody. He was produced before the court on Monday, 22 January.

On Sunday, 21 January, the Delhi Police Commissioner transferred the investigation into the fire incident to the Delhi crime branch, ANI had reported back then.

Delhi Police registered a case under 304, 285 and explosives act and arrested the person who took this place on rent on 1 January and was doing this work illegally.

Dependra Pathak, Delhi Police PRO to ANI

Delhi Minister Satyendar Jain had said that if it was indeed a cracker factory, it was illegal.

Probe committee has been formed. Strict action will be taken after we receive the report. I don’t think license is provided for firecracker factories in Delhi. If this indeed was a cracker factory, it’s wrong that an illegal factory was being run.

Satyendar Jain, Delhi Minister

Preeti Aggarwal, the mayor of north Delhi and BJP leader, was allegedly seen in a video telling her colleagues that the licensing for the factory was given by them, so they could not comment on the fire.

However, speaking to ANI, she later clarified that she only inquired about the incident from her co-workers and meant that people mustn’t say anything in the time of such an unfortunate accident.

This industrial area is under the DSIDC and land allotment has been done by Delhi government. They should at least see what work is being done there. Is making a fake video viral and confusing public fair? It’s condemnable and I expect Arvind Kejriwal Ji to apologise for sharing the video. 

North Delhi Mayor Preeti Aggarwal

Delhi Fire Services Director GC Mishra said that the investigation was underway and that the electric wires in the building were “running haywire”. He also said that there was no fire fighting arrangement in the building.

"It is a very tragic incident. We have ordered a probe into the incident," Kejriwal told reporters after meeting the injured people at a hospital at the time of the incident. He said the injured will get an ex-gratia of Rs 1 lakh.

The chief minister said the matter will be fully probed on how the licence was given, who gave the licence and how the incident happened.

The president also gave his condolences to the families of the bereaved.

GC Mishra, the Director of Fire Services in Delhi told ANI that the department had received three calls from Bawana in the afternoon.

We received 3 calls from Bawana – Sector 1 a plastic factory, second from Sector 5 a cracker storage and the third from Sector 3, a furnace oil storage. All casualties are from Sector 5 fire. The fire is completely under control now. We have recovered 17 bodies so far.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences on the deaths from the fire.

Union Minister Harsh Vardhan, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Manoj Tiwari, Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta and North Delhi Municipal Corporation Mayor Preety Agarwal also went to the spot.

Manoj Tiwari also announced compensation of Rs 50,000 to the victims of fire incident. He said that blaming the BJP in such a time is just “low level politics”.

Preeti Aggarwal asked whom does the factory come under. It’s murmuring, only ‘ye factory’ is clear. People are trying to make that fake video viral at a sad time just to blame the BJP. The CM re-tweeted it, he must apologise for such low-level politics in time of despair. 

The fire had reportedly broken out around 3:30 pm in the afternoon, and had been contained by 7 pm. The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained.

We had received a call at 3:35 that a fire had broken out on the second floor of E-41 in Bawana. We had immediately sprung to action.

A fire official

Around 15 fire tenders were ushered into the spot to curb the fire. The fire official added that rescue operations are still on.

According to a Hindustan Times report, property worth several lakhs was also destroyed in the fire. Speaking to the daily, the chief fire officer Atul Garg said that though the initial report from the fire cracker factory categorised the fire as a category four blaze, which was not considered serious in terms of magnitude.

However, explosions took place inside the factory which resulted in the casualties.

Atul Garg, Chief Fire Officer

Meanwhile, Rajneesh Gupta, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Rohini), said that a case had been registered under relevant sections of the IPC.

While the fire department said the blaze occurred at a firecracker storage unit, the DCP had said they are yet to confirm this. He said it was a matter of investigation if firecrackers were being manufactured too.

A man who jumped from the second floor of the building in a bid to save himself later succumbed to injuries at a hospital.  

The victims were trapped in the basement, first and second floors when the fire spread from the basement to the floors above, the police officer said.

(With inputs from PTI, IANS, ANI)

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