Pune: Despite five deaths being reported, high-profile politician visits – including the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of the state – and 48-hours later, Pune Police are still unable to file First Information Report (FIR) and name or identify the persons responsible for the massive fire that was reported at the Serum Institute of India (SII).
Pune Police Commissioner Amitabh Gupta on Saturday afternoon said that the investigation has begun only on Friday and it is going on. “Investigation by local police and crime branch is going on. We are looking into all aspects of the case.”
Pune CM Uddhav Thackeray visits Serum Institute of India
A case of ‘accidental death’ has been registered in connection with this incident at the Hadapsar police station, however neither FIR has been registered nor anyone responsible for the deaths have been ‘named’ or identified. This delay in naming the culprit is despite the Crime Branch being asked to investigate the case. Sources said police might name the contractor responsible for the incident however official confirmation is awaited.
Hadapsar police are conducting panchnama (record of observation) at the site where the fire incident took place on Thursday (January 21) afternoon at around 1.30pm to 2pm. The work of panchnama was started on Friday (January 22) and will continue on Saturday (January 23) too.
Pune Serum Institute Fire
Police Commissioner Amitabh Gupta, Joint Commissioner of Police Dr Ravindra Shisve, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone V) Namrata Patil, Hadapsar Station Police Inspector Balkrishna Kadam, MIDC Fire Brigade Chief Santosh Warik, PMRDA Fire Brigade Chief Devendra Potfode, PMC Fire Brigade Chief Prashant Ranpise, Electrical and Forensic department officials also were present.
The panchnama process started on Friday morning. After the panchnama process gets over, police will investigate further and then register FIR. DCP Namrata Patil told media persons that along with Pune Police, the officials from fire brigade department of Pune Municipal Corporation, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) and Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) will prepare a report jointly and based on this report, FIR will be registered.
According to primary information gathered by the various agencies, the fire was initiated on the second floor of the three-storeyed building of SII at M-SEZ3 in Manjari area. However, the exact reason behind the fire could not be ascertained yet. Meanwhile, on request of Serum Institute officials, the Pune Fire Brigade has kept one fire tender vehicle on standby at the company premises.