Police officer Madhusudan said the five were taken into custody late Monday after a two-day hunt by police.
Police are investigating temple board members and associates of firework contractors for possible charges of attempted murder and culpable homicide, both punishable by life imprisonment, and illegally storing a cache of explosives.
Besides the deaths in the early Sunday blaze at the Hindu Puttingal Devi temple complex in the village of Parador in Kerala state, more than 380 people were injured.
Rescue workers were sifting through the debris for clues about how an unauthorized fireworks display sparked the fire that swept through the temple as it was packed with thousands for a religious festival.
Police questioned five workers on Monday about fireworks stored at the site, hoping to learn more about who owned the fireworks and who had contracted the pyrotechnical display, police constable R. Unnikrishnan Nair said. The five were later released.
The death toll from the disaster stood at 110, with more than 380 injured, including many with burns and other injuries suffered when an adjacent building storing fireworks collapsed, police said.
Villagers and police had to pull many of the injured out from under slabs of concrete and twisted steel girders.
(AP)
A man walks past debris from damaged structures at the spot where a
massive fire broke out during a fireworks display at the Puttingal
temple complex in Paravoor village, Kollam district, southern Kerala
state, India, Monday, April 11, 2016. Rescue officials on Monday sifted
through the Hindu temple in southern India where more than 100 died when
a fireworks display - an unauthorized pyrotechnic display that went
horribly wrong - swept through for a religious festival packed with
thousands.
