The prime accused in the Attibele fire cracker case has also been booked for cheating and forgery after the district administration found him submitting forged documents of the licence.
Based on the findings, K.A. Dayananda, Deputy Commissioner (Bengaluru Urban), filed a complaint with the Attibele police recently.
The police have registered another case against Ramaswamy V. Reddy, owner of Balaji Traders, charging him under various section of Explosives Act, and for cheating and forgery for further investigation.
Mr. Dayananda, in his complaint, said that after the fire accident, the district administration had initiated a probe and sought the copies of the licence from the accused.
The accused had submitted the copies of the licence which revealed that the police and the Fire and Emergency Services had issued No Objection Certificates.
Based on this, the district administration, which is the licensing authority, issued the licence to store and sell fire crackers to Reddy.
However, the licence that he submitted post the accident has now been found to be forged.
The licence belongs to Rajashekhar, based on an application in 2020, the FIR alleges. However, it is not clear as to why Reddy who does hold a licence in his name, submitted an allegedly forged document to the department.
Reddy, the licencee, his son Naveen Reddy, who was operating the business and was also one among the four injured, and the building owner Anil Reddy were arrested by the police.
As many as 17 people died and many others suffered burns when the godown caught fire on October 7. Considering the magnitude of the case, the government handed it over to the CID for a detailed probe.
After two months of detailed probe, the district administration concluded that Reddy was running the shop with a fabricated licence.
