BENGALURU: Two days after a cylinder explosion in a laboratory on the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) campus took the life of an engineer and injured three more, police managed to get statements from the professors who founded the startup, where the four were working.
Amidst allegations of negligence and a lack of supervision levelled against the professors, they told police that the four engineers were highly competent and qualified, which was why they were chosen to work with SuperWave Technologies.
City police on Friday recorded the statements of professors KPJ Reddy and Gopalan Jagadeesh, booked for criminal negligence for the blast at IISc’s aerospace engineering department’s Laboratory for Hypersonic and Shock Wave Research.
“We recorded their statements, and they said the particular experiment they were working on didn’t require the presence of the professors at the spot, as the employees of the startup were well-qualified to handle the project,” said BK Singh, Addl Commissioner of Police (West).
On Thursday, IISc security chief MR Chandrashekhar had filed a complaint with Sadashivnagar police against the two professors, claiming they were in charge of the lab and were responsible for ensuring that the equipment being used was safe.
The family members allegedly complained to police that the institute should have ensured that experiments were being conducted in a safe environment. Professors Jagadeesh and Reddy were booked under 304A (causing death by negligence) and 338 (Causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the IPC.
Research intern Manoj Kumar, 32, died in the explosion on Wednesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, police are also waiting for doctors at MS Ramaiah Hospital for the go-ahead to record the statement of the injured victims. “While Karthik Shenoy and Naresh Kumar are in a critical condition and on ventilators, Athulya is stable for now but has facial injuries and is also in shock. He is not in a condition to speak,” Singh told The New Indian Express.