Bhartiya Janta Party’s Member of Parliament (MP) from Kurukshetra and industrialist Naveen Jindal staunchly defended Vedanta Chairman Anil Agarwal after he was named in an FIR over a deadly explosion at the company’s Chhattisgarh power plant, urging ‘investigate first, establish responsibility based on evidence, then act.’ With the death toll climbing to 23, Naveen Jindal’s social media post balanced empathy for victims’ families with a call for fair probes, highlighting Anil Agarwal’s self-made success and questioning unequal scrutiny of private versus public sector leaders.
What happened in Vedanta power plant?
The inferno erupted around 2:30 pm on April 14 in boiler-01 at Vedanta’s plant in Chhattisgarh’s Sakti district, triggered by excessive fuel buildup causing extreme pressure, as per the Chief Inspector of Boilers’ preliminary report. An FSL analysis from Sakti district confirmed the findings, pointing to maintenance lapses and operational failures by Vedanta and NGSL that led to fatal pressure fluctuations.
Two more victims succumbed recently- Subrata Jana from West Bengal’s Medinipur, at Raigarh Medical College and Upendra Sah from Jharkhand’s Garhwa, at Raipur’s Kalda Hospital. Three workers remain critical, nine under observation in Raipur and Raigarh hospitals. Doctors stress golden-hour treatment for survival in such burns cases.
Naveen Jindal’s strong defense: Fair probe for self-made industrialist
In an X post, Naveen Jindal called the tragedy “deeply painful,” demanding non-negotiable compensation, livelihood support and thorough investigation for the 20+ shattered families. He questioned naming Agarwal in the FIR prematurely- “He is a self-made man from a humble, backward community who built a global enterprise from scratch. He had no role in that plant’s operations.”
Drawing parallels, Naveen Jindal asked- “When accidents happen in PSU plants or Railways, do we name the Chairman? The same standard must apply to private sector too.” He tied it to #ViksitBharat, warning that investor trust hinges on evidence-based justice, not rushed blame.
FIR, political demands and probe findings
The FIR invokes sections for death by negligence and machinery mishandling against Anil Agarwal, manager Devendra Patel and others, citing “clear negligence” from evidence. Leader of Opposition (LoP) Charan Das Mahant escalated calls for culpable homicide charges, a judicial inquiry over SDM-level probe, out-of-state burn unit treatment and a dedicated Chhattisgarh burn hospital.