The Bihar Police have filed a first information report in connection with a boiler blast at a factory in Muzaffarpur district that caused seven deaths, PTI reported on Monday.
Seven people have been booked in the case, Town Deputy Superintendent of Police Ram Naresh Paswan said.
Vikas Modi, the owner of the noodles factory where the explosion took place, is among those named in the FIR. His wife Shweta, manager Uday Shankar and other employees responsible for maintaining the boiler have also been booked.
In the FIR, the police have invoked several Indian Penal Code sections, including culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Efforts are on to arrest the accused persons, the police said.
The explosion took place at the Bela industrial area in Muzaffarpur district. A firm named Anshul Snacks and Beverage Private Limited runs the factory where the incident took place, The Times of India reported.
The factory is said to have been operational since 2006.
Meanwhile, Muzaffarpur Senior Superintendent of Police Jayant Kant said that five of the people who died in the blast have been identified as Prakash Rai, Vinod Rai, Sandeep Kumar, Amarnath Sah and M Sahni, according to The Times of India.
Kant added that seven people have been injured in the explosion and they are undergoing treatment at the Shri Krishna Medical College and Hospital at Muzaffarpur.
The official said that the cause of the incident was negligence on the part of those in charge of the boiler control room, as per preliminary investigations.
“The control room staff had not checked the pressure, which led to explosion in the furnace,” Kant said, according to The Times of India.
On Sunday, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced a compensation of Rs 4 lakh each to the families of those who died in the accident.
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