Jessop owner Pawan Ruia does not show up before CID

Ruia Group Chairman and Jessop owner Pawan Kumar Ruia on Wednesday failed to appear before CID officials of West Bengal Police who are probing repeated incidents of fire at the company's factory in suburban Dum Dum.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had summoned Ruia to appear at its headquarters for the probe ordered by the state government after repeated incidents of fire at the Jessop factory over the past one month.

"He hasn't appeared today at (CID headquarters) Bhabani Bhavan. We are sending him a notice. He would probably be summoned again on Friday," Deputy Inspector General (CID) A(CID) Bharat Lal Meena told IANS.

The CID has already arrested 16 persons for allegedly intruding into the Jessop factory premises in suburban Dum Dum and stealing factory equipment since taking up the case almost two weeks ago.

On Tuesday, CID also summoned three senior company officials, including the CEO Ashok Agarwal, for questioning with regard to the theft case.

Agarwal was arrested by Dum Dum police station personnel on Tuesday on the charge of unauthorised removal of Employees Provident Fund (EPF) dues.

"Agarwal has been handed over to Dumdum police station, as there were 24 warrants pending against him on various issues related to EPF," CID officials said.

The West Bengal government ordered a CID probe after repeated incidents of fire over the past one month in the Jessop factory earlier this month. An FIR was then lodged by the police against Ruia.

Meanwhile, the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday refused to quash the FIR, following a plea by Ruia.

Justice Samapti Chatterjee, hearing the matter, said the FIR wouldn't be quashed.

However, he also directed the police not to take any coercive steps against him.

--IANS

mgr/ssp/sm/dg