One labourer dead, 4 seriously injured in quarry blast at Hassan village, owner tries to hush it up

HASSAN: One labourer died and four others were injured in a blast at a stone quarry for ornamental stone at Dumagere village in the taluk on Thursday. The deceased was identified as Mani (40), hailing from Tamil Nadu. The injured Elumalai, Selvan, Madhulai and Siddaraju are undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Hassan.

Mani, who was killed in the blast.

The quarry on two acres of land on Survey No. 5 in the village is leased to Navyashri Minerals owned by one Devaraju. The blast occurred on Thursday morning and Mani died on the spot while the other four sustained serious injuries.

The injured labourers in hospital.

Mani’s body was quietly shifted to Sulvadi village in Hanur taluk of Chamarajanagar, where his wife hails from, and from there to his hometown in Tamil Nadu where the last rites were performed on Friday. The injured are undergoing treatment in the ICU of a private hospital, but neither the police nor the Mines and Geology Department were informed about the mishap.

After Public TV aired a report on the quarry blast, district Deputy Commissioner C Satyabhama and Police Superintendent Mohammed Sujeetha visited the hospital on Thursday night and inquired about the condition of the injured.

They later visited the quarry and took the mines and geology department officials to task. They summoned the quarry lessee Devaraju to the spot and took him also to task for covering up the death. Devaraju T N , his son Arjun T D and a labour contractor were taken in custody.

On receiving information, Inspector General of Police Boralingaiah visited the quarry at 3 am on Friday and later checked on the injured at the hospital. A forensic team and the dog squad were also called in at the quarry site.

IGP Boralingaiah visited the hospital at 3 am on Friday.

The Shantigrama police immediately contacted the Tamil Nadu police, intercepted the ambulance in which Mani’s body was being taken, and conducted a post-mortem examination before handing it over to the family. A case was registered against Devaraju, Arjun, Sridhar Babu, Krishnamurthy, Prakash and others at the Shantigrama police station.

A doctor at the privite hospital where the injured are being treated said they were brought in on Thursday afternoon. “They have sustained injuries in the hands, head, chest and back and surgeries have been performed. The condition of at least one of them is serious”, he said.

Police Superintendent Mohammed Sujeetha, said, “There is rumour that one more person died and the body was shifted and we will look into this. We will also arrest any other absconding accused. We received information only aroudn 10.30 pm on Thursday”.