Anandapur fire: Wow! Momo warehouse manager, deputy held

Kolkata: In a significant development in the Nazirabad–Anandapur fire case, the police, on Thursday, arrested two more persons linked to the fast-food chain Wow! Momo, days after the owner of the decorator’s godown from where the fire broke out was taken into custody.

The arrested have been identified as Manaranjan Sheet, manager of the concerned Wow! Momo warehouse, and Raja Chakraborty, its deputy manager.

The devastating fire has so far claimed 21 lives, while 27 persons are still reported missing. However, police officials said the exact death toll will be confirmed only after the completion of identification procedures.

On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 2 lakh from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) to the next of kin of each deceased, and Rs 50,000 for those injured. Earlier, the West Bengal government had announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for the families of the deceased. The fast-food company Wow! Momo has also announced Rs 10 lakh compensation for the families of three of its workers who died in the incident.

The two persons from the fast-food company were arrested late Thursday night in the Narendrapur area during a police raid and are scheduled to be produced before the Baruipur sub-divisional court on Friday. Meanwhile, Gangadhar Das, the owner of the two gutted plots, was produced before a trial court on Wednesday, where police sought custody. He will be produced in court again on February 4.

Authorities confirmed that 27 missing diaries have been registered so far, and 32 DNA samples have been collected from family members to aid in the identification of the victims. The samples are currently being mapped by the State Forensic Pathology department to establish identities. Notably, in Kolkata’s history of fire-related fatalities, DNA mapping has previously been required only in the Stephen Court fire case, making the Anandapur incident the second such instance necessitating this process.The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken suo motu cognisance of the incident and has directed the concerned District Magistrate to submit an action-taken report at the earliest.

Since Wednesday night, Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita has been imposed at the Nazirabad incident site, and the prohibitory order will remain in force till March 30.

On Friday, Governor C V Ananda Bose visited the site of the incident. He inspected the two gutted warehouses in Anandapur and took stock of the situation on the ground. The Governor said, “I have come not to find faults, but to ascertain facts. However, the administration should have been more alert. Responsibility cannot be avoided in such a manner after the incident.”

Earlier in the day, a team of forensic experts also revisited the area and collected samples from the site as part of the ongoing investigation. Due to huge debris the process has become tough and slow as well.