Four years after Kerala firework tragedy, police files charge sheet; officials spared

Four years after the killing of 110 people in a temple firework mishap at Kollam district in Kerala, the police crime branch that probed into the case filed charge sheet sparing the officials responsible for allowing the illegal firework competition.

As many as 59 persons were chargesheeted on Friday, which included the office bearers of the temple, organisers of the festival and workers involved in the fireworks.

Revenue and police officials were spared from the charge- heet despite strong allegations of lapses in preventing the illegal firework. Police sources sought to justify this citing that departmental actions were being initiated against the officials.

The mishap occurred on April 10, 2016, during the annual festival of Puttingal Devi Temple at Paravur, about 25 kilometres from the Kollam city. An illegal firework competition between two groups of the locality resulted in the major explosion as the entire stock of explosives stored illegally burst all on a sudden.

Apart from claiming 110 likes, over 350 suffered injuries and many houses even within several kilometres around the temple were seriously damaged. Concrete block of the building in which the explosives were stored was thrown several kilometres away in the impact.

There were allegations that revenue and police official did not prevent the illegal firework due to political pressure. A judicial probe into the tragedy had found lapses on the part of the police and revenue officials. However, police and revenue officials are made witnesses in the case.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also visited the mishap spot.