SEEKING JUSTICE: A woman with a photograph of her son Sajid who died in the gas disaster, outside the district court in Bhopal on Tuesday. — Photo: PTI

BHOPAL: The Bhopal chief judicial magistrate's court on Tuesday continued the proceedings linked with the 1984 Union Carbide gas disaster here and recorded the statements of the three main accused. They are J. Mukund, former works manager, Union Carbide India Limited; K.V. Shetty, former production manager at the UCIL Bhopal plant, and Shakil Ibrahim Qureshi, production assistant there. The other main accused, Keshub Mahindra, Vijay Gokhale, Kishore Kamdar and S.P. Chaudhary, were also present to record their statements. While Mr. Mahindra is the former UCIL chairman, Mr. Gokhale was managing director at the time of the tragedy, Mr. Kamdar was vice-president and Mr. Chaudhary, production manager.

The court fixed March 1, 2 and 3 for further recording of the statements of the accused. It records the statements, giving them an opportunity to explain the circumstances appearing as evidence against them.

Similar claims

The statements made by Mr. Mukund and Mr. Qureshi on Tuesday were similar to those recorded by Mr. Mahindra, Mr. Gokhale and Mr. Kamdar on Monday.

Their response to most of the queries was "they had no knowledge as they were not present."

Mr. Mukund said it was wrong on the part of a witness to complain that the plant authorities did not inform the public of the remedial measures to be taken in the event of a gas leak.

He contradicted many witnesses, saying it was wrong to argue that the people were never informed of what was to be done in case of a gas leak.

"No minor leaks in past"

Responding to another witness, Mr. Mukund said it was factually incorrect to say "there were minor incidents of gas leak in the past, but what occurred on the midnight of December 2 and 3 was the worst leakage."

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail