The Kozhikode fast-track special court on Saturday acquitted K.P. Jagadeesh, owner of Kerala Stationery Mart, in the case related to the major blaze on Moideen Palli Road, adjacent to S.M. Street in the city, almost 14 years ago.
Judge S.R. Syamlal found Jagadeesh not guilty in the case. Eight people were killed, several injured and property worth ₹15 crore destroyed in the fire that broke out on April 5, 2007.
The Crime Branch in September 2012 filed a chargesheet against Jagadeesh, who owned the wholesale firecracker shop from where the fire originated. The prosecution case was that he had carelessly stockpiled firecrackers in a wholesale shop.
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During the probe, the Crime Branch had ruled out the possibility of sabotage after solely relying on the examination report submitted by the New Delhi-based Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), attached to the CBI. At the same time, the team had received a contradictory report from the State Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) based on the samples collected from the accident site.
The conflicting statements in the reports of the CFSL and FSL pertained to the presence of potassium chlorate in the samples. The Central agency said that the samples did not contain any chlorate mixture. None of the samples contained the presence of high explosives.