The death toll in the factory blast-cum-collapse at a ceiling fan factory in west Delhi’s Moti Nagar reached seven on Friday even as relatives of some victims accused the owner of speeding up production without caring about the safety of workers and the capacity of the machines.

The owner, 35-year-old Ankit Gupta, was among eight people hospitalised after getting trapped under the debris of the crumbling factory that police and civic officers said was operating illegally in a residential neighbourhood.

Monika Bhardwaj, deputy commissioner of police (west), said Gupta received more than 50% burns and remains critical at Safdarjung Hospital. Surviving workers said Gupta was instructing the men while standing close to a furnace, which is suspected to have exploded and triggered the collapse.

The police have for now registered a first information report (FIR) for causing death due to negligence, which attracts a maximum prison term of three years. The DCP said legal opinion was being sought to add IPC section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) that can land a convict in jail for up to 10 years.

Relatives of the dead accuse the factory owner of compelling the workers to work for nearly 15 hours in a day.

Rohit Kumar, brother of 21-year-old Ajay Kumar who died, said though the shift was from 9.30 am to 5.30 pm, they were expected to report to duty at 7 am and leave work at 10.15 pm.

“Like many other factory owners in the neighbourhood, Gupta wanted to step up production of ceiling fans before the arrival of summer. My brother would tell me Gupta would ignore his employees’ suggestions about exerting too much pressure on the machinery,” Rohit said.

“These furnaces are always dangerous if used for long hours,” said Ajay’s cousin, Dinesh, who works in a similar unit elsewhere in the city.

The DCP had initially said the blast happened at a compressor but later said scientific probe indicated a furnace had exploded.

“After painting, the ceiling fan blades are placed in a furnace. It seems the temperature was not properly controlled,” said the DCP, adding it would be investigated if the machines were being used beyond their capacity.

Budh Bahadur, father of a 23-year-old victim also named Ajay Kumar, said his son was told about the overtime work when he took up the job on New Year’s day. “My son agreed to do overtime as the extra earnings would serve as his pocket money as he would give all his salary to us. I would have advised him against it had I known the overtime earnings was a risky business,” Bahadur said.

Ajit Kumar Patel, an injured employee, said Gupta would travel to and from Delhi to his home in Haryana’s Rohtak every day. “But during production months in winters, he would sometimes stay back in the factory to oversee the extra work,” Patel said.

The DCP said a background check on Gupta did not reveal much but they would probe how the factory functioned once he recovers. The police interrogated another man, Sachin, on suspicion that he was a Gupta’s partner but he denied any such links. The police will check his bank transactions.

Though police said there was no evidence so far to suggest children were being employed at the factory, they would look into these aspects too as local residents complained of it.

The dead have included a six-year-old boy, Hanshu, and five men aged between 21 and 55. Two of these dead were buried to death in an adjacent scrap yard. The injured that were hospitalised include a woman. Three of them remained critical, police said.

First Published: Jan 05, 2019 08:49 IST