BHUBANESWAR: Ccommissionerate Police on Thursday confirmed that the technician, who had gone missing from the Raj Bhavan square filling station following the explosion on October 7, was killed at the spot in the deadly incident.The deceased is Simanchal Parida, a native of Gahangu village under Aska block of Ganjam district. He was engaged at the fuel station on the fateful day. Police had recovered around 20 mutilated body parts strewn across the accident site. DNA report of the body parts have confirmed that they belonged to Parida.
Police received the DNA report from State Forensics Science Laboratory (SFSL) on Wednesday evening which confirmed the identity of the missing technician, said Police Commissioner Sudhanshu Sarangi. His family members and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) have been informed about the death so that the latter can begin processing documents for compensation to the kin of the deceased.
IOCL had awarded the contract to a Faridabad-based firm, Surya Shakti Vessels Pvt Ltd., to carry out the maintenance work of the LPG unit at Raj Bhavan square filling centre. The firm had appointed Harshvardhan Srivastava of Uttar Pradesh as the chief engineer and he had hired four persons from Odisha, including Parida, as technicians.
Parida’s family members had launched a frantic search for him in the Capital city on October 8 and IOCL officials handed over his wallet and ATM card recovered from the spot. With his body untraced and from the mutilated body parts, they believed him to have been killed in the petrol pump blast and conducted his funeral in a symbolic manner on October 10 at his native village. They placed a bundle of straw as a symbol of Parida and consigned it to the flames at the village cremation ground.
Police had requested his parents to provide their DNA samples and they had visited Capital Hospital for the purpose on October 15. Parida was one among three persons from Ganjam district who were present at the spot on the day of the incident. The two others Sadananda Nayak and Harshabardhan Srivastav were admitted to hospital with critical injuries and Nayak succumbed at the SCB Medical College and Hospital on October 8. Meanwhile, investigation is on to find out reasons behind the explosion by Commissionerate Police, IOCL and Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation.
TIMELINE
Explosion took place at the Raj Bhawan filling station at around 1.25 pm on Oct 7
Four persons were injured and one technician was missing
Of the 4, one Sadananda Nayak succumbed on October 8
DNA reports of mutilated body parts confirm the second deceased as Simanchal Parida
Police, IOCL and PESO investigating into the accident