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Police book Schaeffler officials after fatal mishap
PUNE: The Pimpri Chinchwad Police on Saturday registered a case against officials, including senior executives of Schaeffler India and representatives of Usha Fire Safety and other firms, in connection with an industrial accident at the company’s Talegaon MIDC facility that left two workers dead and three injured
PUNE: The Pimpri Chinchwad Police on Saturday registered a case against officials, including senior executives of Schaeffler India and representatives of Usha Fire Safety and other firms, in connection with an industrial accident at the company’s Talegaon MIDC facility that left two workers dead and three injured.
An accidental death report (ADR) was initially registered at Talegaon MIDC Police Station. Following a detailed probe, police on July 4 filed an FIR under Sections 106(1), 125(b) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Those named include Schaeffler safety officer Satish Sawale, heat treatment head Hemant Bal, Usha fire safety director A.K. Palani, Branch head Aarul Prakasham, Furnotech engineers director Ivan Telis, project manager Abdul Rehman Abdul Hamid Antule, and other officials.
According to the FIR, the accident occurred around 12.30 pm on June 9 while workers were replacing an old carbon dioxide cylinder in the plant’s fire suppression system. Police alleged that mandatory safety measures were ignored and the work was carried out without permission.
Balasaheb Jagdale, police sub-inspector, said, “During investigation, it was observed that multiple safety violations, including the absence of adequate ventilation and emergency exits in the work area, work without permission, failure to deploy trained personnel and technical experts, non-provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) and self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) kits, and the absence of a standby emergency rescue team.”
Police also alleged the plant was not shut down during maintenance, SOPs were ignored, and coordination among supervising officials was poor. Investigators believe these lapses led to the fatal accident.
The victims were identified as Vaibhav Thorat (24) and Gaurishankar Sharma (38). Three others, Schaeffler fireman Srikrishna Sahu, safety officer Narasing Patil and Furnotech employee Pramod Jaiswar, were injured.
Police said the investigation is underway to determine individual roles and whether additional charges will be invoked.
