Pimpri-Chinchwad police have arrested Harsha Kadam, CEO and managing director of Schaeffler India, months after two workers died of asphyxia and three others fell ill following a carbon dioxide leak at the company’s plant in Pune’s Talegaon MIDC industrial cluster.
Kadam, 60, is the eighth person arrested in the case, police said. Senior Inspector Vijayanand Patil of the Talegaon MIDC police station confirmed that Kadam was arrested on Tuesday.
The incident occurred on June 9 at the premises of Schaeffler India Ltd, according to officials cited by The Indian Express. Staff from Usha Fire Safety Equipment Pvt Ltd, Fernotech Engineers Pvt Ltd and personnel from Schaeffler India were carrying out maintenance work on fire safety cylinders when the leak took place.
Two workers died of asphyxia after the carbon dioxide leak, while three others fell ill. The police action has now extended to the head of the company, following the arrests of seven other people in connection with the incident. The identities and specific roles of those previously arrested were not provided in the report.
The case places workplace safety in an industrial cluster at the centre of the investigation. Talegaon MIDC is home to engineering and manufacturing facilities, where maintenance work involving fire-safety systems can bring employees, contractors and specialised service providers into the same operational environment. In this case, personnel from the company and two outside firms were present during the maintenance activity, according to officials.
The arrest follows a gap of several months between the June incident and the police action against Kadam. The report did not state the specific provisions under which he was arrested, whether the police have filed a chargesheet, or what evidence investigators have cited in connecting each accused person to the deaths and illnesses.
The police investigation is continuing. The arrest of Kadam is the latest development in the case, which concerns the deaths of two workers and the hospitalisation or illness of three others after the carbon dioxide leak during fire-cylinder maintenance at the Schaeffler India plant.
