GUWAHATI: Five people, including the owner of a metal processing factory, have been arrested in connection with the explosion at a factory in Assam's Cachar district that claimed the lives of four workers.
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According to Cachar Additional Superintendent of Police (Crime) Rajat Pal, four of the accused were arrested in Cachar district, while the factory owner was apprehended in Guwahati on Monday, July 27.
"They have been arrested on charges of negligence and other offences under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and have been produced before the court," Pal said.
The arrested have been identified as Alok Kumar Tiwari (34) of Rewa, Madhya Pradesh; Rama Kant Singh (35) of Muzaffarpur, Bihar; Shamim Akhtar (35) of Chhapra, Bihar; Rakesh Kumar Surana (63) of Guwahati; and Amichand Jangir (62) of Udharbond.
Surana is the owner of Kade Global Infrastructure LLP, while the other four were part of the management of the company's metal processing unit where the explosion occurred.
Four workers were killed and two others injured after an explosion at the factory caused molten metal to spill onto workers on Sunday morning.
According to police, the explosion occurred at around 11 AM at Kade Global Infrastructure LLP's metal processing unit in Pangram under the Udharbond constituency.
Following confirmation of the deaths, hundreds of local residents staged a protest, alleging that this was not the first such incident at the factory. They demanded a thorough investigation into the blast.
Assam Minister Kaushik Rai, who visited the site, said a magisterial inquiry had been ordered, along with a police investigation and a separate probe by the district labour commissioner to determine whether mandatory workplace safety measures had been followed.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced an ex gratia payment of ₹5 lakh to the family of each deceased worker and said negligence would not be tolerated.
"Industrial negligence will not be tolerated, and we will take firm action against any lapses," the Chief Minister wrote on X.
He also directed local MLA Rajdeep Goala to meet the bereaved families and extend all necessary assistance.
Goala visited the accident site and met the victims' families on Monday. He said a district-wide industrial safety audit had been ordered to assess safety measures across industries.