Ten days after an ammonia gas leakage incident at a seafood processing unit in Tamil Nadu claimed the lives of 14 women workers from Odisha, including 13 from Keonjhar, the Odisha Labor Department has filed eight FIRs across the district, accusing the company and its alleged recruitment network of illegally hiring minors using fake identities and Aadhaar credentials.
FIRs have been registered at Telkoi, Pandapada, Harichandanpur, Daitari, Keonjhar Town, Keonjhar Sadar, Kanjipani and Nayakote police stations in Keonjhar following a Labor Department probe into the recruitment of migrant workers employed at the St Peter’s & Paul’s Seafood Export Facility in Thiruvallur district in Tamil Nadu. The eight FIRs represent the first coordinated criminal action initiated in Odisha against a seafood processing company in the wake of the industrial disaster.
The action follows an ammonia gas leak at the plant on June 21, which left two women on a ventilator. Another worker from Angul district also died in the accident. Following the incident, the Odisha Labor and Social Security Department facilitated the return of 62 Odia migrant workers, including 58 members of the Jwanga tribe from Keonjhar. The Khwajas are among the particularly vulnerable tribal groups in Odisha.
According to the FIRs filed by the Assistant Labor Officer of Keonjhar, a local recruitment agent Srikant Jwanga of Rangamatiya village under Tilkoi police station limits allegedly recruited workers from different parts of Keonjhar by promising better job opportunities before sending them to Tamil Nadu in October 2025.
“In Telkoi area, at least five of the workers recruited were below 18 years of age. Of the 12 workers who died in the industrial accident, seven of them belonged to Telkoi area and five were minor girls,” the FIR said.
The state labor department alleged that minors were employed at the dangerous seafood processing unit using fake identities and Aadhaar credentials of adult women to hide their actual age. She accused the recruitment agent, Khawanja, of working in collusion with the administration or the recruitment organization to facilitate the illegal recruitment of minors.
The FIR cited the case of Gamini Khwaanga, a minor from Rangamatiya village, who was allegedly operating under the identity of an adult woman from another village by fraudulently using her Aadhaar credentials. Gamini died in a gas leak.
Describing his investigations as indicating “serious violations” of the law, the Assistant Labor Officer sought a criminal investigation into crimes including illegal recruitment of migrant workers, employment of minors in hazardous occupations, identity fraud, forgery, cheating, trafficking-related crimes, and other violations under labor and criminal laws.
The Labor Department also urged the police to investigate not only local recruitment agents and brokers but also officials and representatives of a Tamil Nadu-based seafood processing company allegedly involved in recruiting and hiring workers.
