Two held in Nashik building blast case

Nashik/ Mumbai:,/b> A day after three persons were killed in a blast at a residential building in Nashik, police on Thursday arrested two persons, including son of the prime accused who was killed in the explosion, while denying any terror angle in the incident so far.

"Shakti Gavai, who leased the house to the main accused Manohar Gurunani, a firecrackers manufacturer, and Amit Gurunani were today arrested in connection with the yesterday's incident. Amit is the son of Manohar," Vinod Lokhande, Nashik Police Commissioner, told PTI adding that the third accused, Lalit Paghe, who worked with Manohar, was still absconding.

An FIR was registered against five persons under the relevant sections of IPC, including section 285 (negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter), 286 (negligent conduct with respect to explosive substance), section 287 (negligent conduct with respect to machinery) and relevant sections of the Explosive Substance Act.

Replying to a query on the incident, Home Minister R R Patil in Mumbai said, "No terror link has been established so far. Investigations are on."

The three deceased were identified as Manohar Gurunani, Dyaneshwar Wagh and Ravindra Vishwakarma. Manohar and Dyaneshwar were also cited as accused in the FIR.

However, police were yet to ascertain the sequence of events that led to the blast yesterday at the three-storeyed Saptashrungi building located at Tarvala Nagar in Panchvati area of the city.

The exact reason of the explosion was not yet clear but it could be a result of an accidental fire caused in the illegal stock of explosive material used for manufacturing firecrackers stored at the building, Lokhande said.

"Manohar (Gurunani) has got a license of manufacturing firecrackers. He had manufacturing units in the district. He might have stored a huge quantity of explosive material which caught fire and resulted in the explosion," he added.

"We are awaiting forensic report. The sequence of events and cause of the blast will be known only after we receive the report," the police commissioner said.

Maharashtra ATS was questioning the residents of the building in connection with the blast.

Maharashtra government had announced an ex gratia of Rs one lakh for the kin of those killed in the blast, and Rs 50,000 for the injured.