Suspecting murder, police interrogated three employees of the Hindustan Aeronautics limited (HAl) at Sunabeda here in connection with the death of a colleague, Manas Sethi.
Sethi, who was a technician at the Sukhoi-30 aircraft plant, was shifted to a hospital in Visakhapatnam on March 3 with 70 per cent burn injuries. He succumbed to the injuries on Tuesday.
“The three HAl employees, who have been detained for interrogation, were identified as Rajendra Kumar Rout, Jagadish Chandra Paiba and Arun Jena,” informed a police official.
Sunabeda police station IIC Jogeswari Behera said the mishap occurred around 7 pm on March 3, when the detained trio along with Sethi was working at the assembling shop of the Sukhoi-30 plant. They used to clean various components of the aircraft with white petrol there.
“Whether it was an accident or someone poured the petrol on him and set him on fire is being investigated,” added Behera. SDPO Smith P Parmar said, “We can’t jump into any conclusion until and unless the detailed investigation is complete.”
Meanwhile, tension ran high at the HAl campus as hundreds of locals, employees along with the family of the deceased demanded compensation and a job for Sethi’s wife.
“As there is no provision to provide permanent employment at HAl, the deceased’s wife will be engaged on contractual basis. However, the
family will be allotted a residential quarter and will enjoy medical and education benefits at par with other regular staffs,” said HAl DGM (HR) Tushar Ranjan Behera.