Police question chemical factory owners, check their clients

Police investigating a massive fire that broke out in an illegal chemical warehouse off Mysuru Road on Tuesday are questioning the owners as to how they had hoodwinked the authorities for years.

The Hosaguddadahalli warehouse stored hundreds of barrels containing chemicals, including some alcohol-based, used in the manufacture of sanitisers. The warehouse belonged to Rekha Chemical Corporation and Rekha Chemical Industries but didn’t have permission to operate in a residential area.

Byatarayanapura police are questioning Kamala Sajjanraj, the owner of Rekha Chemical Corporation, and her husband Sajjanraj, the owner of Rekha Chemical Industries, and their son Anil Kumar, who was managing the business, to determine how they operated under the nose of the authorities.

Police are also collecting information on firms that bought chemicals from Sajjanraj, a senior police officer said.

They have identified two such firms so far. Police are also checking the companies in Mumbai, Kochi and Chennai that are said to have supplied flammable chemicals to the factory here, the officer added.

On Thursday, teams from the forensic science laboratory and the fire department collected samples from the fire site.

Meanwhile, the residential area is limping back to normality as power and water supplies were restored on Thursday.