Kolkata hotel fire mishap: Owner, manager remanded to police custody till May 8

Kolkata, May 1 (IANS) The two accused of culpable homicide in the devastating fire at a hotel at Madan Mohan Burman Street in central Kolkata where a devastating fire broke out on Tuesday night, killing a total of 15 people were remanded to police custody till May 8 by a court here.

The two accused are the owner of the hotel, Akash Chawla and the management of the entity, Gaurav Kapur. Both were absconding since the fire broke out on Tuesday night and finally both were arrested by Kolkata Police personnel on Thursday.

They were presented at a lower court in Kolkata on Thursday afternoon and the public prosecutor prayed for their police custody. The judge of the lower court accepted the prayer from the public prosecutor and remanded the two accused to police custody till May 8.

During the hearing, the defence counsel refuted the allegation of the state fire services department that the fire license of the hotel had expired three years back and had not been renewed since then.

The defence counsel also presented a copy of the renewed fire license at the court.

He also challenged the decision of the police to book the two accused under various sections relating to culpable homicide, which are non-bailable in nature.

“This was a case of an accident. But despite that, my client has been booked under sections relating to culpable homicide. There was no intention to kill people and hence sections relating to culpable homicide are not applicable here. Chawla’s counsel argued.

Kapur's counsel claimed that his client was just an employee of the hotel and was not even an ordinary board member. “The case has been registered against the hotel authorities and hence my client cannot be held responsible for the mishap,” Kapur’s counsel argued.

After hearing the arguments from the public prosecutor and the defence counsels, the lower court finally granted police custody for the accused till May 8.

Initial findings by the investigation team have revealed that besides lapses related to fire safety management, there were other major lapses in ensuring proper emergency evacuation arrangements and ventilation facilities at the hotel, as a result of which the majority of those killed in the fire died not because of getting charred but because of suffocation caused by the smoke emitting out of the fire.

The local residents alleged that despite several complaints of illegal constructions in the hotel raised in the past, neither the Kolkata Municipal Corporation nor the police took any action.

--IANS

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