2 more bodies found; Dombivli blast death count now 10

A judicial magistrate first class at Kalyan remanded Malay Mehta, owner of the chemical factory where the blasts happened, to two days police custody even as Mehta pleaded with the court that it was an accident caused by unusually high day temperatures

THANE: Two more bodies were found on Saturday that increased the official count of the number of dead in the Dombivli MIDC blasts to 10.

The scene of a blast in a Dombivli MIDC in which 3 people were killed in 2016. A similar blast occurred in the area on May 23 (Hindustan Times)

At least nine people from Amudan Chemicals, Saptavarna and Cosmos Company are still missing. Seven of the ten bodies recovered during the rescue operation are beyond identification. Health officer KDMC, Deepa Shukla said, “DNA samples for the rest of the bodies have been sent to Kalina for identification.”

The search operation was called off in the morning even as relatives of the missing were agitated and demanded that the search should continue. Ramakant Rajput, whose brother is missing, kept insisting that his brother will be found at a particular spot if they searched, although the personnel tried to wave him away. Because of a restive public, the search was restarted at 5:30pm and the body of Ramakant’s brother was found as the tenth victim.

Meanwhile, a judicial magistrate first class at Kalyan remanded Malay Mehta, owner of the chemical factory where the blasts happened, to two days police custody. Mehta pleaded with the court that it was an accident caused by unusually high day temperatures.

Thane police crime branch requested 14-days custody. Public prosecutor said the investigators needed to probe if the company had taken all the permissions related to the manufacturing process, ensured necessary care of the equipment, and implemented strictly all the rules relating to the actual production. The police have to go to the site to investigate all these angles.

Advocate for Social Rights Institute, Akash Koinwad and advocate Priyesh Singh filed intervention pleas, stating that lives have been lost in this disaster and many properties have been damaged. So, 14-days custody should be given.

The defense lawyer said, on the day of the blast, Malay Mehta was on his way to his site but got a little late due to work outside because of which he is alive today. Also, the main argument was that the scorching heat in the city, which was 47 degrees Celsius on the date of the incident, led to the blast.

The defense lawyer Samrat Thakkar said: “What happened was an accident, the factory has been there for 17 years, but this has never happened earlier. The incident took place because of the hot weather. Sometimes the chemicals react differently because of heat. It’s an accident.”

He added that the production process was being carried out only after obtaining proper permits from the authorities about all chemical components, boilers etc.

After hearing all the lawyers, the court remanded Mehta to police custody till May 29.

Amudan Chemicals is owned by Mehta, 38 and his mother Malti Pradeep Mehta. Malay tried to get anticipatory bail on Friday but before he could move court, the crime branch arrested him. His mother, who is in Nashik, has been detained for investigation.

Missing persons Meanwhile, the victims of the 2016 blast remembered the blast as a nightmare that they haven’t forgotten yet. One of the social workers Raju Nalawade, who followed up to get the inquiry report at that time, said the suggestions that were made in the report were never implemented by MIDC or DISH authorities. Probes company is not operating, but the court case is still going on.

Nalawade said, “Probes was dealing in Propargyl Chloride. This was the first factory started in India to produce this chemical. Later, others started in Gujarat. The similarity between that blast and this is the failure of controls in the hot water heating system that eventually led to explosion in the reactor. This time also authorities told me there was overheating and excess chemicals inside the reactor.”

“More than 200 people were injured at that time and 12 were dead including the owner’s sons. No one was monitoring the handling of hazardous chemicals then, no one is monitoring now. Shifting the MIDC was declared at that time too but never happened. The then chemical analyst told me that companies here try to expand their business for which they store a lot of chemicals in the premises. They don’t even repair the reactor when leaks develop.”