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Kerala temple fire: High Court favours CBI probe

Trivandrum - The court was considering a letter submitted by sitting judge Chidambaresh seeking a ban on high-decibel firecracker explosives.

Expressing strong doubts about the current police investigation into the Paravur temple fireworks mishap that claimed over 100 lives, Kerala High Court on Tuesday asked the state government to consider handing over the probe to a higher agency like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
A division bench of Justices Thottathil Radhakrishnan and Anu Sivaraman expressed lack of faith in the investigation being conducted by the Crime Branch considering the lapses on the part of the Kollam district administration and the police in preventing the mishap.
Pointing out that the police had failed in stopping the fireworks display held in violation of the Additional District Magistrate's order, the bench sought action against the erring officials.
The court has directed Kollam district administration and the police to file separate affidavits over the tragedy. The court also came down heavily on the police for not registering murder cases against the temple managing committee officials and the contractor responsible for the mishap.
The court was considering a letter submitted by sitting judge Chidambaresh seeking a ban on high-decibel firecracker explosives.
The judges noted that the police were duty bound to stop the fireworks as it was held without the permission of the concerned authorities. However, the police had helped the temple committee to organise the pyrotechnics display.
Earlier, the federal government informed the court that the fireworks display was conducted in violation of rules. The solicitor general told the court that the organizers had flouted seven rules and avoided precautionary warnings.
Meanwhile, Crime Branch Additional Director General of Police S Ananthakrishnan, heading the probe into the mishap, said that they had gathered from the interrogation of the seven temple committee members they had conducted competitive fireworks display by misguiding the police.
While temple trust president SL Jayalal, secretary J Krishnankutty and three other members-Shivaprasad, Surendran Pillai and Ravindran Pillai-surrendered before Crime Branch officers, two others Surendranathan Pillai and Murugesan were picked up by the police.
The police have registered cases against 20 people, including the contractors and their assistants responsible for the fireworks display, under different sections of the Indian Penal code, including section 307 for attempt to murder, 308 for attempt to culpable homicide and section 4 of the explosive substances act.
While main contractor Kazhkoottam Surendran succumbed to the injury at the Trivandrum Medical College hospital on Tuesday, six of his assistants are now under the Crime Branch custody.
Preliminary investigation showed that the crackers used for the display were made of banned chemicals. The methods used for the display was also a gross violation of the Explosives Rules 2008.
Sudarshan Kamal, Chief Controller of Explosives, Nagpur, who visited the mishap site, said that the conduct of the display after the midnight was also a violation of the Supreme Court ruling that it should be permitted only up to 10 pm.
The organizers also did not adhere to the distance norms mandated by the rules. The Chief Controller of Explosives said that the gravity of the tragedy could have been lessened if they had maintained a safe distance as prescribed by the rules.
Meanwhile, the toll in the explosion rose to 111 on Tuesday with the contractor and his relative Sathyan succumbing to their injuries at the Trivandrum Medical College hospital. Surendran's son Umesh, who suffered 60 per cent burn injury, is undergoing treatment at the medical college hospital.
After a review of the arrangements for the treatment of the injured people at medical college, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said that condition of 27 people undergoing treatment at Trivandrum and Kollam was critical.
Doctors from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS), New Delhi, who accompanied Prime Minister Narendra Modi, visited the hospitals on Tuesday and expressed satisfaction over the treatment. However, they have sought more experts for handling the patients in the intensive care units.
A member of the team said that they had requested federal Health Minister JP Nadda to send another team. Doctors from other hospitals Safdarjang Hospital and Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in Delhi and Ganga Hospital from Coimbatore are already camping in the state to lend a helping hand to the state health staff.
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