Police arrests Burrabazar hotel owner after fire kills 14; total arrests rise to 3

Kolkata: The police have arrested the owner of Rituraj Hotel in Mechhua Bazar area where a major fire killed 14 people due to the alleged violation of norms by the hotel authorities.

Kolkata Police said the owner of Rituraj Hotel, Akash Chawla and the manager, Gaurav Kapoor were arrested early on Thursday morning. In the evening, police arrested another person Khurshid Alam who was the contractor of the interior construction work of the hotel. It was learnt that a construction work using plywood was ongoing in the hotel for which Khurshid had bagged the contract. It is alleged that the second staircase was closed for the said work.

Sources said that after the fire broke out, the hotel authorities did not alert the boarders. While dousing the flames, firefighters had witnessed that several constructions were allegedly made which hampered the emergency exit points. It also came to light that for the past three years the hotel authorities didn’t bother to renew the fire licence and obtain NOC.

On Wednesday evening, a fire broke out at the hotel. The fire alarm system did not work. When the boarders learnt about the fire, they tried to escape but failed as the building was filled with toxic smoke. The firefighters rescued most of the people trapped inside from the rooftop and the parapets. Fourteen persons died in the incident. Among them, one person died while jumping from the second floor. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday visited the gutted hotel and took stock of the situation. She had advised the people to be more cautious and abide by the rules in order to avert any untoward incident.