Key accused in Chikkaballapura quarry blast arrested

G S Nagaraja, one of thepartners of the quarry and the prime accused in theChikkaballapura quarry blast case has been arrested, policesaid.

Nagaraja, also a local BJP leader from Gudibande, whohad been absconding since the blast was held on Thursday,police sources said.

Police have also picked up another person namedGanesh, who hails from Tamil Nadu and is said to be the personwho regularly carried out blasting for the crusher unit, forinvestigation.

Six people were killed when the gelatin sticks theywere trying to hide exploded accidentally at a stone quarrysite at a village in Chikkaballapura district, early onTuesday.

The incident was close on the heels of a similar blastat a quarry site in Shivamogga on January 22, which left sixdead.

Police on Wednesday had announced the arrest of otherthree partners of the quarry-Raghavendra Reddy, VenkatashivaReddy, Madhusudan Reddy- and employees Praveen and MohammedRiyaz Ansari (driver), in connection with the case.

Gudibande Police Station Circle Inspector Manjunathand Sub-Inspector Gopal Reddy have been kept under suspensionpending enquiry, on charges of dereliction of duty.

Police had raided the quarry and crusher unit onFebruary 7 for illegally procuring and storing explosives,but had failed to do a thorough follow-up, and arrest theaccused in the case, which if done could have prevented theexplosion, officials said.

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