The illegal factory manufacturing ‘cold fireworks’ located at Plot No. F-83 of Sector 5 in Bawana Industrial Area has only single entry-exit door, which was locked at the time of fire incident, said workers in neighbouring factories.
“I went to the factory at 6 p.m. to deliver 30 cups of tea. Most of the workers were accommodated on the ground floor and a few were on the first floor. I delivered tea at the main gate and went back. I was among the first responder when the fire broke out in the factory but we could not do anything to rescue the people trapped inside because the main gate was locked from outside and only the single entry gate was open,” said Chote Lal, a tea vendor in the locality.
Stocking crackers
The factory premises was taken on rent since January, and around 50 workers were employed in two shifts. The quantity of the crackers were more because owner Manoj Jain was storing it for sale in the run up to Holi. They were illegally manufacturing colour smoke crackers and cold fireworks for the upcoming wedding season, said police.
“The factory owner paid a monthly rent of ₹25,000 for using the building. He has denied that any firecrackers were manufactured inside and said it was only used for packaging of crackers he got from elsewhere,” said a police officer.
A team of Forensic Scientific Lab (FSL) experts visited the spot to collect samples. “An FSL team visited the factory again on Sunday and conducted an extensive search on the premises for about four hours along with the police,” said DCP (Rohini) Rajneesh Gupta.
“Except a few, all died due to asphyxiation. Survivors Roop Prakash and Sunita were trapped in the building and jumped from the second floor to save their lives. They are undergoing treatment at LNJP hospital,” he added.
However, Delhi Fire Service director G.C. Mishra said the police is probing the incident. “Electric wires in the building were running haywire, I think the fire must have started there, but, it will be disclosed only after probe. There was no firefighting equipment in the building,” he said.
The police arranged a help desk at Baba Saheb Ambedkar (BSA) Hospital and deputed staff members who facilitated in identifying the victims with the help of relatives.
The police said of the 17 bodies, 14 victims have been identified by the relatives.
The deceased were identified as Baby Devi (40), Afshana (35), Sonam (23), Reeta (18), Madeena (55), Rajjo (65), Suraj (20), Ravikant (18), Sukhda (42), Khusna (47), Soni (21), Rohit (19), Sanjeet (19) and factory supervisor Ajeet Ranjan (22).
“The bodies were handed over to the relatives after the post-mortem. Three dead bodies — one female and two male — are yet to be identified,” added Mr. Gupta.
The police on Sunday produced Mr. Jain before the duty magistrate, who sent him to judicial custody.
