Kinnigoli, May 6: The quarry owner and the supervisor were arrested by the police in connection with the explosion that occurred at a house in a quarry labourers’ colony, at Aikala Nelligudde in Kinnigoli, on Monday.
Santosh Menezes (owner) from Bondel in the city and Dennis Menezes, who was in charge of the quarry concerned, were arrested. Based on the complaint filed by quarry worker Nagaraj, a case has been registered. Experts have visited the explosion site on Monday to ascertain the cause for explosion.
The owner and supervisor have been arrested on the grounds of possessing the explosives illegally, said the police.
The bodies of the deceased Erichamma and her son Paravan Uthandy have been handed over to the family members after the autopsy. A small portion of the body has been sent to forensic lab. Ammonium nitrate, gelatin sticks and other explosives were found in the adjoining room where the explosion occurred.
It is suspected that a spark from the gas must have fallen on the explosive materials, triggering the explosion.
They said that the arrested persons would be produced in the court after interrogation. The policemen want to unearth the connection of the arrested persons if any, with Biju Thomas from Kerala, who had been arrested on similar charges from Karkala recently. They said that district level officers would take steps against quarries violating legal provisions after gathering information about all the stone quarries located near Aikala, duly checking whether all the safety measures have been adopted there, based on police report. They said that illegal stone quarries would face legal action.
In view of these sudden developments, grief-stricken quarry workers chose to suspend work on Monday and stay home to mourn the death of their close ones. Some were seen engaged in repairing houses, which were damaged in the explosion.
