Saki Naka fire: one worker still missing

Family remains hopeful, files missing person complaint; four arrested for blaze

Gutted: Cooling down operations are under way at the site of the fire in Asalpha on Sunday.

Two days after a massive fire engulfed a factory at Saki Naka and claimed two lives, a 42-year-old worker still remains missing. Pratap Kaddia’s anxious family members have been waiting at the factory hoping to hear from him while the fire brigade, police and the local residents work non-stop to clear the debris.

The family does have hope as some have said Mr. Kaddia had left the factory premises before the fire broke out, while others have said he was stuck inside. The family has filed a missing person complaint at the Saki Naka police station.

The fire broke out at the paint factory at Aashapura Compound in Asalpha around 5 p.m. on Friday. It took officials 15 fire tenders and more than six hours to douse the Level IV blaze.

Fire brigade officials had on Saturday removed the bodies of two victims, Aarti Jaiswal (25) and Piyush Pitadia (42), who succumbed to burn injuries and smoke inhalation. Mr. Kaddia worked in the same factory where the two deceased were employed.

A relative of Mr. Kaddia, who did not wish to be named and was at the spot, said he has requested the police to check footage from the CCTV cameras in the nearby shops to check if the worker had left the factory before the fire broke out. “He had just been working with the factory for the last 25 days,” the relative said.

The Saki Naka police have arrested four people from the factory — Mathuradas Bhadra, Pratap Gori, Udaylal Gauri and Khemsingh Rajput — for negligently handling flammable substances.

Ankit Goyal, DCP Zone X, said, “We have booked four accused under Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 285 (negligent conduct with respect to fire) of the Indian Penal Code. The fire was primarily caused due to mishandling of flammable paint substances which were stored in the factory’s godown without proper safety measures.”

According to the Saki Naka police, one of the factory supervisors informed them that the two workers were missing around 11.30 p.m. on Friday. The firefighters later found their bodies near the washroom of the factory’s godown.