The police on Wednesday arrested two key owners of the quarry and crusher unit whose six employees were killed in an accidental blast on Tuesday while trying to dispose of illegally procured explosives in Chickballapur district.

The arrested have been identified as Venkatashiva Reddy and Raghavendra Reddy, brothers hailing from Lepakshi, Andhra Pradesh. With these, the total number of arrests have gone up to five. The Gudibande police had arrested driver Riyaz, the sole survivor of the accident, supervisor Praveen, and another partner Madhusudhan Reddy on Tuesday. The police have taken the custody of Raghavendra Reddy and Riyaz, while the remaining three have been remanded in judicial custody. However, G.S. Nagaraja, a BJP leader from Gudibande and a partner in the quarry and crusher unit, listed as the prime accused in the FIR, is yet to be arrested.

Meanwhile, M. Chandrashekhar, Inspector-General of Police, Central Range, has suspended Gudibande sub-inspector Gopala Reddy and circle inspector M.N. Manjunath on charge of dereliction of duty. The Gudibande police had raided the quarry and crusher unit on February 7 and shut it down after they recovered illegally procured and stored explosives. However, the police failed to do a thorough follow-up, recover all explosives, and arrest the accused in the case, which if was done, could have prevented the disaster on February 23, Mr. Chandrashekhar reasoned in the suspension order.