Bail denied to 12 arrested in Chikkaballapur quarry blast case

BENGALURU: The Chikkaballapur district sessions court on Tuesday denied bail to 12 people arrested in connection with a quarry blast in which six men had died on February 23 at Hirenagavalli village.
The victims were suspected to be ferrying explosives from a quarry and crusher unit fearing police raids and were stashing them away when the blast took place.
The suspects are GS Nagaraj, 55, of Chikkathamanahalli, Shiva Reddy alias P Venkatashiva, 52, of Gorantla, Mohammed Riyaz Ansari, 35, from Jharkhand and resident of Gudibanda, Raghavendra Reddy, 43, of Hirenagavalli, Manjunatha Reddy, 44, of JHebbal Kempapura, Praveen, 22, Anand N, 46, and Madhusudhana Reddy, 48, residents of Hirenagavalli, Ganesh, 41, of Dharmapuri, DV Ravindra, 67, of Tumakuru, Murthy M, 36, of Dharmapuri taluk, M Sambhashiva Reddy, 52, of JP Nagar.
The accused had sought regular bail contending that they have been unnecessarily shown as accused in the crime.
“There are more than 35 crusher units, but police made allegations against the accused only under political influence. Police searched the crusher unit on February 22 and seized a compressor, but not any explosive. They have already recorded the statements of witnesses and the accused. The custodial enquiry is not required,” the petitioners argued.
However, the prosecution said the manager of the unit instructed the labourers to destroy explosives and they were quarrying illegally as mining operations in the district are prohibited by the government.
No grounds to entertain pleas: Judge
“The petitioners are involved in Jsimilar crimes as well as illegal use of explosives, I do not find any grounds to entertain the petitions as the investigation is still in progress,” Bhairappa Shivaling Naik, principal district and sessions judge, Chikkaballapur, observed.
The employees of Sri Sai Shiradi Aggregate Quarry— engineer Uma Mahesh, computer operator Gangadhar, weigher Murali, security guards Ramu, Mahaboob Singh Bora and accountant Abhi Naik — died in the blast.