Arms depot blast: Contractor held

Mumbai: The police has arrested the labour contractor who was absconding following an explosion near a Central Ammunition Depot (CAD) in Maharashtra’s Wardha district. Shankar Chandak (40) had provided labourers for disposal of ammunition at the CAD.

The reported explosion happened on November 20, which killed six persons while injuring 12 others. Among the deceased, five of them were contractual workers. During the probe by the police on the incident, it came to light that the ones provided by Chandok were unskilled and inappropriate for handling of ammunition boxes, resulting into the mishap.

Following the probe, a case under IPC section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) was registered against Chandkok. However, since then he was missing. Police officials will be producing Chandok before a local court.

The place where the incident occurred last week is Pulgaon in Wardha, which is one of the largest weapons stockpile in the country. These stocks include assorted weaponry including bombs, grenades, shell, rifles and other explosives.

On the day of incident, the factory personnel and contractual labourers were destroying unused rounds of 23 mm Shilka anti-aircraft ammunition. This is the second major blast in the depot in last two years. In the earlier one that occurred on May 2016, 13 persons were killed in a major fire in the depot while disposing off the explosives.