One more director arrested in Dombivli chemical factory blast case

Thane: Police have arrested another director of a chemical company in connection with a reactor blast at its unit in Dombivli in Maharashtra last week which claimed 10 lives and left more than 60 injured, an official said on Wednesday.

With this, two directors of the company have so far been arrested in connection with the incident.

The impact of the blast on May 23 at Amudan Chemicals unit, located in Dombivli area of Thane district, was so severe that it shattered windowpanes of houses and damaged cars, roads and electric poles in the vicinity.

After the incident, the police had arrested Amudan Chemicals director Malay Mehta (38).

On Tuesday, the police summoned the company's another director, Sneha Mehta (35), the wife of Malay Mehta, and placed her under arrest after detailed questioning as prima facie her involvement was established in the case, the crime branch official said.

She will be produced in a court on Wednesday for remand, he said.

She was not named in the FIR registered by the police last week in connection with the incident.

A probe team also visited the residence of Mehtas in neighbouring Mumbai and collected some documents which are vital to the ongoing probe, the official said.

State Industries Minister Uday Samant on Tuesday said a three-member high-level committee comprising principal secretaries of the Industries, Labour and Environment departments has been formed to probe the incident and it will submit its report in three weeks.

An expert team from New Delhi will also conduct a probe to ascertain the exact cause of the blast even as efforts were underway to locate missing workers, if any, state Labour Minister Suresh Khade said on Monday.

In view of similar incidents in some factories situated in the Dombivali Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) area in the past, local people have been demanding that companies be shifted to other locations.

According to residents, the Dombivali industrial area was located on the outskirts of the city but with rapid urbanisation, new housing schemes have come up in its vicinity.