KARACHI, Nov 30: An additional district and sessions court on Friday indicted a factory owner and his employee on a manslaughter charge in a case pertaining to a boiler explosion that left nine people dead and 25 others injured in New Karachi.

Akhtar Hussain Baloch, the factory’s owner, and Mohammad Ahsanullah, the boiler operator, pleaded not guilty to the charges and Additional District and Sessions Judge-II, Central, Nelofer Shahnawaz Azimi summoned 48 prosecution witnesses, including eight policemen, to record their statements on Dec 5.

A case (FIR 359/07) was registered against them at the Taimuria police station after a boiler exploded at a towel-dyeing and bleaching factory on July 24, 2007.

The investigation officer attributed the long delay in submission of a final charge-sheet to non-availability of an inquiry report that was being prepared by the boiler inspection wing of the Sindh government’s directorate of industries.

An interim charge-sheet was submitted on Aug 9 after which the court fixed Aug 29 as the date for submission of a final charge-sheet.

However, Investigation Officer Mohammad Ilyas did not appear in court and submitted an application citing pre-occupation with the investigation of some other criminal cases as the reason for his absence.

On Aug 30, the judicial magistrate lodged a complaint with the senior superintendents of police of centre and west about the IO’s failure to comply with court orders. The investigation officer, instead of appearing in court, sent another application seeking further time to complete the final charge-sheet.

The judicial magistrate wrote again to the police officials concerned, including the CCPO, DIG and TPO of North Karachi, complaining that the investigation officer was not responding to the court orders. Eventually, the IO appeared in court on Sept 3 but failed to submit a complete charge-sheet.

The court directed the boiler inspection wing’s inspector to convey his findings to the investigation officer before the next date of hearing which was fixed on Sept 7 for the submission of a complete charge-sheet.

The investigator finally submitted the charge-sheet to court of Judicial Magistrate-12, Central, Abdul Zahoor Chandio on Sept 24.

Referring to a parallel inquiry conducted by officials of the directorate of industries, the investigation officer stated that a boiler operator must hold a licence to handle the job and should be well-versed with the operation of the machinery.

“The boiler that exploded did not have safety devices in place and also lacked a heat intensity gauge meter,” the investigation officer stated in his report, adding that investigation had revealed that the factory owner was guilty of negligence as he was supposed to ensure the maintenance of safety standards at his factory.

However, the IO’s report did not address the issue of the expired boiler clearance certificate produced by the factory owner within a couple of days of the incident which could provide clues to the machine’s fitness level. It also omitted to mention whether mandatory inspections had been carried out by the authorities concerned.

The two accused are in judicial custody. However, the hearings were repeatedly adjourned with little progress in the case as the accused could not be produced before the judge despite the court’s earlier directives issued to the superintendent of the central jail in this regard.