New SIT to probe Deesa firecracker warehouse blast, to submit report in 15 days
This is the second such team formed since the tragedy; owners of premises yet to be held
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Written by Brendan Dabhi
Ahmedabad | Updated: April 2, 2025 09:00 PM IST
3 min read
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The team has to investigate into the root cause of the explosion, find out if any permission was obtained to run a firecracker warehouse in the industrial GIDC area, and if the owners had permission to store explosive substances. (Source: Express Photo)
The Gujarat government on Wednesday announced a new, state-level Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate into the blast at Deepak Traders warehouse in Banaskantha district where 21 people were killed on Tuesday.
Notably, this state-level SIT comprising an IAS officer, an IPS officer, an FSL officer and an engineer, was formed around 12 hours after the first one was formed by the Inspector General of the Border Range comprising Banaskantha police officers. The new SIT has been ordered to submit its report within 15 days.
This comes even as Khubchand Renumal Mohanani and Deepak Khubchand Mohanani, the owners of the warehouse, booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder alongside other charges at Deesa Rural police station on Tuesday, were yet to be arrested about 22 hours after the incident.
State Health Minister Rushikesh Patel on Wednesday announced the formation of the SIT to inquire into and submit a report on the causes and events that led to the tragedy. The order, issued by the Home Department, names IAS Bhavin Pandya, the Secretary of Land Reforms, Revenue Department, as the chairman of the SIT. Its members include Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Vishalkumar Vaghela; Director of the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Gandhinagar, HP Sanghavi; and Chief Engineer of the Road and Buildings Department, J A Gandhi.
On Tuesday, while the bodies were still being retrieved from the site of the tragedy, Border Range IG Koradia had formed an SIT under the chairmanship of a DySP-rank officer C L Solanki, and comprising three inspectors and one sub-inspector.
Speaking on the difference in mandate of the two SITs, Banaskantha SP Akshayraj Makwana told The Indian Express, “While the police SIT will investigate the case per se, the state-level SIT has a wider mandate to look into the role of other departments and factors leading to the incident.”
Mandate of state-level SIT
The state-level team has to investigate into the root cause of the explosion, find out if any permission was obtained to run a firecracker warehouse in the industrial GIDC area, and if the owners had permission to store explosive substances.
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The committee has also been asked to find out if regulations under The Explosives Act, 1884, and Factories Act, 1948, were followed; if labour laws and laws related to child labour were being followed; and if construction norms were flouted while building the warehouse.
The SIT investigation will also reveal if the premises had fire safety equipment and a Fire Safety Certificate (FSC), if regulatory inspections were carried out regularly; and if any negligence had led to the tragedy.
The order further asked the Banaskantha civic administration, police, local government and other investigating agencies to lend support to the SIT in its investigation.
Brendan Dabhi works with The Indian Express, focusing his comprehensive reporting primarily on Gujarat. He covers the region's most critical social, legal, and administrative sectors, notably specializing at the intersection of health, social justice, and disasters.
Expertise
Health and Public Policy: He has deep expertise in healthcare issues, including rare diseases, Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), the complex logistics of organ transplants, and public health challenges like drug-resistant TB and heat health surveillance. His on-ground reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic and Mucormycosis was critical in exposing healthcare challenges faced by marginalized communities in Gujarat.
Social Justice and Legal Administration: He reports on the functioning of the legal and police system, including the impact of judicial philosophy, forensics and crucial administrative reforms (. He covers major surveillance and crackdown exercises by the Gujarat police and security on the international border.
Disaster and Crisis Management: His work closely tracks how government and civic bodies respond to large-scale crises, providing essential coverage on the human and administrative fallout of disasters including cyclones, floods, conflict, major fires and reported extensively on the AI 171 crash in Ahmedabad.
Civic Infrastructure and Governance: Provides timely reports on critical civic failures, including large scale infrastructure projects by the railways and civic bodies, as well as the enforcement of municipal regulations and their impact on residents and heritage. ... Read More
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