Surat: Two owners of Shalu Dyeing Mill were recently booked by police at Pandesara police station six months after two labourers died in collapse and fire mishap in the unit.One of the accused was later arrested by police, but without carrying out a technical inquiry into the incident with the help of experts. Complaint in this incident was lodged soon after death of a seven-year-old boy and a 51-year-old woman teacher at a coaching class in Vesu after a fire broke out in the metre boxes of Aagam Arcade a few days ago.When the mishap occurred at Pandesara GIDC, police called Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) experts. They submitted a report of spot visit but without identifying any specific causes for the collapse. The FSL experts had suggested to the police to get a technical inquiry done from an agency like Gujarat Engineering Research Institute (GERI).When police contacted GERI officials, they asked them to approach Road and Buildings department to collect samples from the spot. However, the inquiry never took off. The process has started afresh after the registration of the police complaint.“FSL experts submitted a report which was general observation. It was not a report about technical findings. They had asked the police to contact GERI and later Road and Buildings department was also suggested,” said an officer at Pandesara police station.“Police had not only contacted GERI and Road and Buildings department, but a top engineering institute too. However, they neither initiated the inquiry nor collected samples,” said a senior police officer.Preliminary investigation had revealed that the mill structure was weak and that an oil pipe got damaged after the collapse and caused fire in the premises. Police had booked the accused based on the notice served to the unit by Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) about its weak structure a few months before the collapse. Union leaders had also sent complaints to government about the weak structure. Police took note of these too in the investigation.Police booked Ashish Jain and his younger brother Kamal on December 3. Ashish is in judicial custody ever since his arrest while Kamal is yet to be arrested because he is abroad. The accused were booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and attempt to commit culpable homicide.The two labourers who died were Amit Ramkumar Yadav and Rajbahadur Samarbahadur Maurya.

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