Could it have been traditional rivalry between two seasoned fireworks experts that ended up in the gory mass of burnt human flesh, accounting for over 100 lives, at the ill-fated Paravur Puttingal Devi Temple in Kollam district on Sunday?
Both the contractors — one of them battling for life at the Government Medical College Hospital here and the other absconding — allegedly engaged in the fireworks competition, hail from Thiruvananthapuram district and are reputed names in the business. Surendran, critically injured now, hails from Thekkemukku near Kazhakuttam, and Varkala Krishnankutty, who is missing along with his entire family, hails from Vilabhagom near Anchuthengu.
The Anchuthengu police, who raided the residence of Krishnankutty at Vilabhagom, said the house was locked by the time they had traced it on Sunday morning, with the entire family “disappearing”. The house has been sealed, with a senior police officer saying that it was learnt that Krishnankutty, whose assistants were injured in the accident, had left the Kollam temple not too long before the mishap, after collecting money from the organisers.
He had a storehouse as well near the house, which was also locked. “Since it could have explosives stored in it, we are yet to break open the door, but have sealed it and posted guards,” a police officer said.
At Kazhakuttam meanwhile, a police team led by circle inspector V. Baburaj found eight gunny bags of explosives, mainly firecrackers, from the residence of Surendran. Of these, one bag had the ‘gundu’ variety of crackers, while the rest were normal crackers. The police, who could not find any document substantiating the validity of the explosives licenses held by Surendran, are making efforts to find out whether his operations were illegal.
Mr. Baburaj said it was learnt from his relatives and neighbours that Surendran had two licenses, one in the name of his son Anoop, for manufacturing crackers, and which was reportedly valid till 2017. However, another license, for the storage of explosives and in the name of his daughter-in-law Thushara, had reportedly expired on March 31, with relatives saying that he had applied for renewal of the same.
“The local police station, however, is yet to get any request from Explosives authorities or the Collector asking for the mandatory law and order clearance report before the license is renewed,” the circle inspector said.
Both Surendran and son Umesh are in a critical condition, while the police are trying to verify what happened to his younger son Deepu, who too was reportedly assisting his father in the competition.
One of the contractors is battling for life, while the other is absconding
