Kollam temple fire: Court grants bail to 41 accused as cops fail to file chargesheet

Kerala High Court on Monday granted bail to all the 41 accused in the Kerala Kollam fire tragedy as the police failed to file a chargesheet within the 90-day deadline, reported  NDTV. As many as 112 people were killed at the Puttingal Devi temple fire in April and more than 1,000 were injured after a lone spark landed on a stockpile of fireworks leading to a subsequent explosion and fire. [caption id=“attachment_2742870” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. PTI[/caption] As the temple festival was on, fireworks display had commenced at the temple precincts since midnight and hundreds of people had gathered to watch the show, according to a report in Firstpost . As the fireworks and pyrotechnics display was coming to a close at 3 am, an explosion had occurred at the storeroom ‘Kambapuram’ filled with crackers and pyrotechnics materials. Men, women and police officials alike were caught in the fire. According to reports ,  an order had been issued by the additional district magistrate, denying permission to conduct competitive fireworks at the Kollam-temple that was promptly ignored by temple authorities. Two days after the fireworks tragedy at Puttingal Devi temple, the officials at the Kerala High Court had said that a CBI inquiry should be launched into the tragedy. The Kerala government had informed the high court that fireworks were not allowed to be taken inside the temple premises, and the high court questioned how the police could have permitted the inflammable substances inside, as reported by FirstPost . The court had earlier refused bail to all the accused including the temple trust officials. The judge had noted that Kerala had developed a very unhealthy practice of celebrating any festival or ceremony using fireworks, reported NDTV.