Ahmedabad: The investigation into the blast at the illegal firecracker factory in Ramol, which claimed 10 lives including three children, has hit an unexpected hurdle with the main accused, Ramila Dodia, “unable to hear” after her eardrums were damaged in the explosion.Ramila, who is undergoing treatment, has become almost deaf, making sustained interrogation impossible despite a court granting police a seven-day remand of her, her son Mehul Dodia, and co-accused Sadik Syed.A senior police officer said Ramila and Mehul were sitting outside the firecracker unit when the blast tore through the premises around 3.30pm. “The impact of the explosion was so intense that one of her eardrums was completely damaged, while the other was partially damaged. She is unable to hear properly, and questioning her is not feasible at present,” the officer said.The explosion occurred at New Gujarat Fire Works, which was operating from a shed behind the Rapid Action Force camp in Vastral village. The blast, heard from 300 metres away, reduced the structure to rubble.Police on Monday recreated the sequence of events at the site to understand how workers were manufacturing firecrackers under hazardous conditions. The reconstruction also revealed that two of the deceased children, aged 16 and 14, had been engaged in making firecrackers inside the unit.Investigators said preliminary findings suggest the labourers were working in cramped and unsafe conditions when the explosion occurred.Mehul allegedly fled the spot immediately after the explosion but later called a friend and asked him to take his injured mother and others to hospital.The friend reached the site, took Ramila for medical treatment and alerted emergency services, police said.The case has also brought back memories of a 2014 firecracker-factory blast in which a 14-year-old boy was killed. Ramila was named as an accused in that case as well, raising questions over how she allegedly continued to run another illegal firecracker unit despite facing prosecution in the earlier incident.
