Court sends Dombivli chem factory directors to two-day police custody

Amudan Chemicals directors Malay and Sneha Mehta sent to 2-day police custody over Dombivli blast that killed 10. Defence argues accident was not due to technical error.

Thane: The court on Wednesday sent the director of Amudan Chemicals, Malay Mehta, 38 and his wife Sneha Mehta, 35, to police custody for the next two days in connection with a reactor blast at their unit in Dombivli last week which claimed 10 lives and left more than 60 injured.

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The police had requested an extension of their custody to get a clear picture of the incident, including details on what chemicals the affected company had been handling and what led to the blasts. There was allegedly no chemical expert present in the company to analyse the problem in the reactor, officials confirmed.

On Tuesday, the police summoned the co-director of the company Sneha Mehta, and placed her under arrest after detailed questioning as prima facie her involvement was established in the case, the crime branch official said. She was not named in the FIR registered by the police last week in connection with the incident.

A probe team also visited the residence of Mehtas in Mumbai and collected some documents which are vital to the ongoing probe, the official said.

The police demanded seven days of police custody to complete the investigation and to get information about where exactly the reactor was brought from. Defence lawyer Samrat Thakkar argued that section 304A of the Indian Penal Code, which is causing death by negligence, does not apply in such an accident, claiming that there was no intention to kill or harass the employees of the company. He argued that police custody should not be given for seven days, saying that this is a natural phenomenon and the accident was not due to technical error.