Mumbai: Five Isro engineers charge-sheeted for 31 monkey deaths

NAVI MUMBAI: Ten persons, including five engineers of Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), one from Hindustan Organic Chemicals Limited (HOCL) and another of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), have been charge-sheeted by the forest department for the death of 31 monkeys and 14 pigeons after a nitric acid leak from the erstwhile HOCL plant (owned by Isro) in Rasayani on the night of December 13, 2018.They had also allegedly tried to bury the animals.
Assistant conservator of forests (Panvel) Nandkishor Kupte said an excavator driver and two workers were also charge-sheeted.
The engineers include Rajendra Surte (54), Gautam Marathe (53), Sanjay Dixit (48), Anil Shigwan (52) and Tulsidar Mali (42), from ISRO. HOCL engineer Milind Suryawanshi (52) and BPCL engineer Ravindra Yelpalle (52), besides driver, Lakhan Gaikwad (27) and workers, Maruti Kurade (40) and Walsinh Chavan (40), were charged under sections 39, 52 and 58 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
Kupte said the 108-page charge-sheet had been filed on June 21 in Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) court, Panvel, but the court hearings are yet to start.
HOCL chairman and managing director S B Bhide said the department handling the issue will take suitable action and HOCL will fight the case.
BPCL deputy GM (brand & PR) S S Sundararajan said, "No BPCL staff were involved. BPCL is taking legal action." Phone calls and an email to the director (media & PR), at the Isro headquarters in Bengaluru, went unanswered.
The Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, section 39 (restricting possession, gift or sale, and destroy or damage of government property), section 52 (attempts to contravene, or abets the contravention of, any of the provisions of this Act) and section 58 (punishment for an offence against this Act has been committed by a company, every person who, at the time the offence was committed) have been invoked against the accused.
The engineers include Rajendra Surte, Gautam Marathe, Sanjay Dixit, Anil Shigwan and Tulsidar Mali from ISRO. HOCL engineer Milind Suryawanshi and BPCL engineer Ravindra Yelpalle, besides driver, Lakhan Gaikwad and workers, Maruti Kurade and Walsinh Chavan, were charged under Sections 39, 52 and 58 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.