Hyderabad: The Nampally police on Saturday arrested Ramesh Kumar Jaiswal, 53, owner of Balaji Residency, where 10 residents of which died in a fire on Thursday, for storing chemicals in the basement of the residential building.
Nine victims died on the day of the incident, while another victim died while undergoing treatment for burn injuries at the Osmania General Hospital on Friday.
The accused, Jaiswal, 53, also owned Sri Balaji Enterprises, dealing with the wholesale and retail distribution of highly inflammable resins, fibres and polymers, after procuring them from a distributor in Mumbai and Mathangi Chemical in Shadnagar.
Central zone DCP M. Venkateshwarlu, in a press release, said: “For his own convenience, the accused always stored the flammable resin drums and cans on the stilts of the building illegally, knowing that the chemical material was jeopardizing the lives of the inmates.”
On November 11, Ramesh received 32 cans of resin and chemicals, each weighing 35 kilograms, from Mathangi Plasticizer Private Limited in Moti Ghanpur village of Shadnagar and stored stilt at Balaji Residency, Red Hills, where other cases were already stored, Venkateshwarlu said.
“This fire might have been ignited by a short circuit; however, the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained by the electricity department who inspected the crime scene. During the investigation, 30 drums and 88 cans of resin chemical which were stored in the building were also seized and samples were sent to FSL for chemical examination,” the DCP said.
He said that two DVRs from the building were also seized and sent to FSL for data retrieval. After receiving the report from FSL, the actual source of ignition of fire will be revealed, he said.
The case against Ramesh Jaiswal is booked under sections 304 (ii), 285 and 286 of the IPC and Section 9B (1) (b) of the Explosives Act. He was produced in court.
According to the police, complainant Mohammed Ahmed alleged that on November 13, at 9.20 am, he heard screams and noticed that one car parked before the fire-hit Balaji Residency’s second gate, right opposite the chemical godown, was on fire, police said.
After a few minutes, the resin drums burst and resin spread, leading to a high volume of smoke and flames, the police said.
Ahmed raised the alarm, but residents of the first floor were trapped. Firefighters, after extinguishing the flames, went inside to find that nine persons from two families who were trapped had already died due to suffocation and burns.
