The Satara police have filed a case of culpable homicide against 13 persons, including the brothers of local Congress MLA Jaykumar Gore, in connection with the > gelatin stick blast that killed three labourers and seriously injured five more in Western Maharashtra’s Satara district on Friday.
According to the police, Mr. Gore’s brothers, Shekhar and Ankush, had a substantial stake in Bothe Windfarm Development, a project company of Continuum Wind Energy in Satara’s Mann-Khatav Taluk, whose legislator Mr. Gore is.
The company had kept gelatin sticks in a tin-shed on a hillock that housed workers.
“We have booked a case of negligence against as the company kept the gelatin sticks with full knowledge of the hazards it entailed to workers. An inspector further revealed that the company had no proper storage facility for the sticks,” said Abhinav Deshmukh, Superintendent of Police, Satara.
The intensity of the explosion, while ripping through the shed and creating a huge crater, damaged several homes in the vicinity, wrecking window panes and disturbing furniture.
An irate crowd from the village went on a rampage after the blast, destroying the company’s furniture and damaging computers.
Meanwhile, the Satara District Collector has directed officials to probe whether the company followed safety regulations while storing explosive material.
