Factory owner detained in Delhi after fire kills 17

Published Jan 21, 2018

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New Delhi - A man running a plastics warehouse in the Indian

capital where 17 people, including 10 women, were killed in a fire,

has been taken into custody, police said Sunday.

Preliminary investigations revealed that Manoj Jain had been running

a repackaging unit in the two-storey building in the Bawana

industrial area in what was registered as a plastics warehouse, Delhi

Police spokesman Dependra Pathak said.

"Delhi Police has registered a case under Indian Penal Code 304, 285

and the Explosives Act and arrested the person who took this place on

rent on January 1 and was doing this work illegally," Pathak said. 

The charges are of negligence relating to fire and culpable homicide.

There were at least 20 to 25 workers in the building when the fire

broke out Saturday evening on the ground floor and quickly spread to

the upper floor and basement, fire official GC Mishra said.

The building had only one narrow staircase leading to one exit and

most of the victims died of asphyxiation, while some from burn

injuries.

While some people managed to escaped, two - a man and a woman -

suffered fractures when they jumped from the terrace of the building

to escape the fire, Mishra said.

The Bawana industrial area has small manufacturing and processing

units many of which do not comply with fire safety regulations.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has ordered a probe into the

incident. He also announced assistance of 500,000 rupees (about 7835

dollars) each for families of the dead and 100,000 each for the

injured.

DPA

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