BENGALURU: A Group D worker is likely to be made accountable for last month’s fire tragedy at the BBMP head office in which chief engineer CM Shivakumar died and eight others were injured, according to police and Palike sources.
Soon after the fire broke out at the Palike’s Quality Assurance Laboratory, the police filed a complaint and began an investigation.
A senior police officer from the Central Division said a preliminary investigation revealed that the Group D worker was at fault as he was handling inflammable chemicals at that time. His negligence led to the blaze.
The officer said the Group D worker was not supposed to do this work at all. However, the worker defended himself stating that he did it on instructions from his seniors.
The police said once the injured staffers fully recovered, their statements will be taken and added to the report.
A BBMP official from the engineering section said even the report by BBMP Engineer-in-Chief BS Prahalad stated that negligence on the part of officials working on the ground floor of the laboratory led to the blaze.
“Chemical expert Anjanappa from RV College of Engineering will give his report on chemical components found at the laboratory. The BBMP will submit its report to the state government on September 15. Even the BBMP’s internal inquiry cites negligence on the part of the Group D worker as the reason for the blaze,” said the BBMP official.
The fire broke out at the laboratory around 5 pm on August 11 and nine people were seriously injured. On August 12, two assistant executive engineers and the Group D worker of the Palike were detained. They were released on police station bail. Prahalad had filed a complaint with Halasuru Gate police in connection with the blaze. The investigations are still on.