Chandigarh factory fire: Police seek report from UT estate office on building bylaws, fire safety norms

A source said, “We registered a case against the owner and his tenants for death due to negligence under Section 304A and common intention under Section 34 of the IPC. To add harsher charges including 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC, we need required evidence establishing that the fire safety norms were overlooked deliberately. The electrical firm, Vishav Electricals, was running in the basement. We want to know whether estate office norms allow operation a firm in the basement. Other documents included no objection certificate (NOC) etc from the UT estate office, UT fire department. Though the plot owner, Joginder Singh, had claimed the fire extinguishing equipment was installed in the basement but this did not work when the fire broke out on Monday. We could not go by his words.”

The plot owner, Joginder Singh, and tenants, who are the owners of Vishav Electricals, Rajesh Kumar Thakur and Sanjeev Kumar Thakur, have been already arrested in this case. They were released on bail.

The SHO of Sector 31 police station, Inspector Ram Rattan Sharma, said, “Documents were sought from the department concerned. The further legal action will depend on the outputs of provided documents.”

However, the body of victim Muskaan Thapa, who was killed along with Suhani in the fire, was handed over to family members after a postmortem examination on Wednesday. Later, the body was cremated at Cremation Ground, Sector 25.

Komal, another worker at the electrical firm, had Tuesday narrated how their safety concerns were ignored by the firm owners. She had said that the owners were told repeatedly about the frequent sparking and short circuits in the electricity board installed inside the basement where the packaging of electrical items took place but the owners did not pay any heed.