ROURKELA: Three days after illegally stored explosives caused a massive blast at a two-storey building claiming two lives and damaging about 30 houses here, Plant Site police on Thursday arrested three persons - the house owner and his two sons.
Police said house owner Jawaharlal Srivastava (55) and his two sons, Niranjan (35) and Durga (32) of Telugupara in Madhusudanpali slum, were booked under IPC provisions of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, endangering life of others and causing grievous injuries to others besides various sections of the Explosive Substances Act. They were forwarded to local court.
Plant Site police IIC Upendra Pradhan said investigation revealed that the accused trio were involved in illegal storage of explosives in their house for manufacturing firecrackers which caused a massive explosion on Monday. In the explosion, Jawaharlal’s daughter-in-law Rekha was killed on the spot while his another daughter-in-law Dolly, who sustained grievous injuries, died on way to VIMSAR, Burla. An injured child is undergoing treatment at a Bhubaneswar-based hospital, he added.
The powerful explosion on the first floor of the house had ripped apart the concrete roof and damaged about 30 adjoining asbestos houses. However, heavy casualty was averted as residents of the houses were away for Biswakarma Puja.