Kolkata hotel fire: Special police team to probe details of Bangladeshi nationals
Kolkata Police Deploy Dedicated Unit to Examine Deadly Hotel Blaze on Mirza Ghalib Street
Indiadailyupdate.com – The Detective Department of the Kolkata Police has constituted a five-member Special Investigation Team tasked with determining what ignited the blaze that claimed nine lives at a hotel along Mirza Ghalib Street during the early hours of Wednesday. Investigators have logged a suo motu first information report alongside a formal complaint submitted by the fire services department.
Victim Identification and Rescue Effort
Among the dead were six men, two women, and one child. Approximately 80 occupants were pulled to safety, and those sustaining injuries were transported to the state-run Nil Ratan Sircar Hospital and to Calcutta Medical College and Hospital. The building also housed local residents beyond its hotel tenants.
Kunal Agarwal, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime), confirmed that investigators had pulled three to four Bangladeshi passports from inside the structure and were cross-checking whether the documents belonged to those who perished. A significant number of the fatalities were nationals of Bangladesh who had come to Kolkata holding tourist or medical visas.
Minister Points Finger at Electrical Failings and Unlicensed Operation
Agnimitra Paul, Minister for Municipal Affairs and Urban Development, directed scrutiny toward the Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation, arguing that the manner in which multiple air-conditioning units were running and the resulting electrical load likely produced the short circuit that started the conflagration.
"How were these hotels operating without permission?"
Paul added that a separate inquiry into unauthorised structures would follow, and that no such premises would be permitted to continue functioning absent valid licences. He noted that municipal regulations mandate a 50-foot separation between buildings — a standard the hotel in question had failed to meet. The nearly century-old structure contained five to six separate hotel operations stacked on each floor.
Witness Recounts Chaos and Silence of Alarms
Araful, 33, who was lodging on the third floor of the burning building, described the scene from memory.
"My wife was in the room when the fire broke out; I was not there. People in the neighbouring room helped her. There was a lot of smoke; we were unable to see anything. The fire was on the stairs of the second floor. No fire alarm rang."
The couple shares a 13-year-old son. Occupants of the other hotel units within the same structure have since been relocated to nearby establishments.
Compensation and Ongoing Inquiry
The state government is expected to extend monetary compensation to affected families, although specific terms and timelines have not yet been announced. The SIT's findings on the precise cause of the fire remain pending.
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