HYDERABAD: Almost a month after a raging fire in a godown at New Bhoiguda in Secunderabad, claimed the lives of 12 migrant labourers working in it, police arrested godown owner D Samapth Kumar on Tuesday.
Police who had earlier booked him under Sec 304A of the IPC altered the case to Sec 304 II of the IPC (Culpable homicide not amounting to murder). The charges have been altered based on the evidence found against the owner, said Ch Sridhar. Another worker Prem Kumar who survived the fire accident, died two days ago while undergoing treatment.
Prima facie it was found that several factors triggered the fire. It was also found that the godown had an illegal electrical supply. The supply was from an adjacent fabrication unit. The godown had no authorised electrical supply, no electrical metre and also no fire safety measures. Police also found that the owner did not register the migrant workers he had employed with the Labour Department as per the guidelines. In violation of the norms that no persons should be given accommodation in a business place, he had housed them on the first floor of the building.