The government has asked State Police Chief (SPC) Loknath Behera to ensure that the Crime Branch has a watertight case when the fireworks display accident that claimed over 100 lives in Puttingal in Kollam last year comes up for trial.
Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Nalini Netto told The Hindu that she had raised certain points with the SPC in the wake of some recent media reports pertaining to the case.
Ms. Netto said her communique to the SPC should not be construed as any comment on the current status of the case.
Official sources privy to the inquiry said the government appeared to be of the view that the fireworks display accident could not be legally interpreted as an unavoidable disaster.
The government possibly wanted the agency to probe the angle of possible criminal negligence on the part of law enforcement in preventing the “avoidable accident”, they said.
The question whether Puttingal could have been prevented through timely police action has deeply divided legal opinion in the past months.
