Bengaluru chemical godown fire finally put out, three held
BENGALURU: The Byatarayanpura police on Wednesday arrested three persons in connection with the fire mishap that occurred at a chemical godown in New Guddadahalli on Tuesday. The massive blaze which started on Tuesday morning was completely put out by Wednesday afternoon, more than 24 hours after it began. Sajjan Raj (66), his wife Kamala (60), and their son Anil Kumar (30) have been arrested in connection with the incident. Sajjan Raj is the proprietor of Rekha Chemical Industries, while Kamala was the proprietor of Rekha Chemical Corporation, and their son was managing the operations.
DCP (West) Sanjeev Patil said that the accused were arrested from their residence in Shankarapuram. “Two FIRs have been registered in connection with the incident. The probe has revealed that the accused had set up the godown owing to space constraints at their units in Bommasandra. They just had a GST certificate, but had not obtained required permissions from the BBMP, Fire & Emergency Services Department, and the Pollution Control Board,” he added.
Sajjan Raj has been in the chemicals business since 1974, and had purchased the plot in New Guddadahalli to set up the godown in 1992. “The firm used to procure chemicals from Mumbai, Kochi and Chennai, and supply them mainly to pharma companies. There were 16 types of chemicals at the godown when the mishap occurred,” police said.
Investigation further revealed that the firm had to deliver eight barrels of ISO propyl alcohol to an industry in Lingarajapuram on Tuesday. “Each barrel usually weighs 85 kg, but on Tuesday the weight was lesser. Hence, a worker, Biju Singh, contacted Sajjan Raj over phone, and the latter told him to transfer the chemical from another barrel. While doing so, the fire broke out,” the police added.
Five buildings, five cars, a tempo, and two bikes have been gutted in the mishap. There were 320 barrels (64,000 litres) of chemicals stored in the godown during the mishap. Fire and Emergency Services personnel continued the operation to douse the fire, which they accomplished only by Wednesday afternoon.“As it was a chemical fire, it took so long to be put off. In all, 22 fire tenders were used in the operation, but only five were used on Wednesday,” a fire department official said.
Home Minister Basavaraja Bommai said that he has ordered an inquiry to find out lapses on the part of the departments concerned. “I have asked the police to locate such godowns and check whether they have obtained required permissions to operate, to ensure no such incidents occur again”. Vijayanagar MLA M Krishnappa also visited the spot and said he will try and help those affected.