Pimpri-Chinchwad police have arrested Harsha Kadam, CEO and managing director of Schaeffler India, months after two workers died following a carbon dioxide leak at the company’s plant in the Talegaon MIDC industrial cluster in Pune district. The arrest places the head of the engineering company among eight people detained in the case, police said.
Senior Inspector Vijayanand Patil of the Talegaon MIDC police station confirmed that Kadam was arrested on Tuesday. The police confirmation was reported by The Indian Express.
The incident occurred on June 9 at the premises of Schaeffler India Ltd during maintenance work on fire-safety cylinders. Staff from Usha Fire Safety Equipment Pvt Ltd, Fernotech Engineers Pvt Ltd and personnel from Schaeffler India were involved in the work when the carbon dioxide leak occurred, according to officials cited in the report.
Two workers died of asphyxia after the leak, while three others fell ill. The incident brought together multiple layers of responsibility at the industrial facility: the company where the maintenance work was being undertaken, the personnel carrying out the work and the firms involved in fire-safety equipment and engineering services.
The arrest comes months after the incident and is the eighth in the case, according to police. The source report does not provide details of the specific allegations against Kadam, the sections of law invoked, the identities of the other arrested individuals or whether the accused have been granted bail.
The case highlights the operational risks involved in maintenance activity inside industrial facilities, particularly where fire-safety systems and compressed or stored gases are handled. Such work can involve employees of the plant as well as external contractors, making coordination, supervision and safety procedures central to determining how an incident occurred. The available police account establishes that the leak happened during maintenance but does not set out the investigation’s findings on the cause of the release or the responsibility of each party.
The Talegaon MIDC cluster is an important industrial area in the Pune region, where manufacturing units operate alongside specialised maintenance, engineering and safety-service providers. The incident therefore involves not only the immediate workplace but also the contractor arrangements that support industrial operations. Any further findings from the investigation will be relevant to how safety responsibilities were allocated before the maintenance began and how workers were protected after the leak.
For now, police have confirmed Kadam’s arrest and identified it as the eighth arrest in the case. Further proceedings and investigation updates are expected to establish the charges, the evidence collected and the next legal steps.
