Tamil Nadu gas leak: Odisha files 8 FIRs as ring used forged aadhaar to employ minor tribal girls

02 Jul 2026, 10:35 by KalingaTV Bureau · KalingaTV

The Odisha labour department has launched a coordinated criminal crackdown following a tragic industrial disaster, filing eight separate FIRs across Keonjhar district. The case pertains to a seafood processing company from Tamil Nadu and its local supply chain, who allegedly used fake names and fake Aadhaar cards to illegally recruit under-age workers. This is the first major enforcement action by the employer in Odisha after a deadly leak of ammonia gas on June 21, 2026 at the St Peter’s & Paul’s Seafoods Export Facility in Thiruvallur district, Tamil Nadu.

The administrative investigation revealed a deeply troubling system of identity fraud engineered to bypass child labor laws. The state labour department found that at least five of the recruited workers from the Telkoi block were under the age of 18, and all five minor girls were among those killed in the gas leak. To mask their actual ages, the minors were integrated into the hazardous factory environment through forged documents that utilized the Aadhaar credentials and adult identities of women from entirely different villages. An example cited by authorities is the case of Jamini Juanga, a minor who tragically died in the accident while being forced to work under a stolen adult identity.

The human toll of the industrial disaster heavily impacted one of Odisha’s particularly vulnerable tribal groups. In total, the gas leak claimed the lives of 14 women workers from Odisha, 13 from Keonjhar and one from Angul while leaving two others fighting for their lives on ventilator support. The Odisha Labour and ESI Department stepped in to rescue and facilitate the return of 62 stranded migrant workers, a group that included 58 traumatized members of the Juanga tribe from the Keonjhar region.

The illegal operation can be traced back to October 2025, when a local recruiting agent identified as Srikant Juanga of Rangamatia village started targeting poor communities. The agent allegedly worked in different blocks of Keonjhar and used to lure the gullible villagers with promises of lucrative jobs before trafficking them outside the state. The FIRs state that this local intermediary was in active collusion with the management and representatives of the Tamil Nadu seafood exporter to facilitate the illegal placements.

Keonjhar’s assistant labour officer has lodged complaints with several police stations -Telkoi, Pandapada, Harichandanpur, Daitari, Kanjipani, Nayakote, Keonjhar Town and Keonjhar Sadar seeking a thorough and impartial criminal probe. The state government has formally urged the police to aggressively pursue charges that span illegal interstate migrant recruitment, the employment of minors in hazardous industries, forgery, identity theft, cheating, and human trafficking. Crucially, the directive mandates that investigators look past local middlemen to prosecute the senior officials and representatives of the Tamil Nadu facility who authorized the employment.

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