This Article is From Mar 24, 2010

Kolkata fire: 24 dead; two caretakers arrested

Kolkata: Two people, caretakers of Stephen Court, the Kolkata building where 24 people died in a fire on Tuesday, have been arrested.

The two - Tarun Bagaria and Rama Shankar Singh - are apparently associates of Sanjay Bagaria, who is who is variously described as the owner of the building or one of the members of a trust that owns it. Some say he heads Stephen Court Ltd, a private company that owns the building since 1984. The police are now looking for directors and board members of the company, but not confirming names.

An FIR has been registered against "the owners of the premises, his associates and those responsible for maintenance." Cases have been filed under Section 304 - culpable homicide, a non-bailable offence; Section 285 - negligent act causing fire' and under several fire laws.

All 24 bodies found have been identified. But there are two claimants each for four bodies and the matter will be settled through a DNA test. Twelve of the injured are in hospital and 10 people are still missing. Relatives of those missing roamed the streets with photographs to glean any detail they could about their loved ones.

The focus at the site has now shifted to clearing the debris, after which the municipal corporation will take a final call on what to do with the building. Stephen Court is a heritage building on Park Street in the heart of Kolkata and houses the famous confectionary Flury's. (Read: Panel to inspect high-rises to ensure fire safety)

Since last evening, forensic and fire officials have been inspecting the inside of the building looking for clues to how the fire started. In the ruins, a jumble of wires bear testimony to the fact that this was a disaster waiting to happen. There is speculation that it was an electrical fire that started in the lift between the fifth and sixth floors. The old building had very poor and haphazard wiring and inflammable material like wooden stairs, cables and metal beams which quickly caught fire.

Police say the bad wiring, wooden stairs and closed exits were death traps for those in the building. Early on Wednesday morning, several bodies were found near a locked gate to the roof. This indicates that people desperately tried to escape to the roof but could not because the gate was locked. West Bengal Police Commissioner Gautam Chakraborty confirmed that the casualties were high because the gate couldn't be opened. (Read: High death toll because gate was locked, say police)

Forensic experts now also say the fifth, sixth and seventh floors of Stephen Court were uninhabitable. The fifth and sixth floors were constructed illegally, the police said, and later regularized. Chakraborty said police and fire brigade personnel faced difficulties in conducting rescue operations inside Stephen Court as they were not given the building plan. The promoter who built the two floors is absconding after Tuesday's blaze.

The police chief said: "We had asked the building association president for a plan of the building and a list of tenants, but these were not provided to us. If we had the list, we could have saved some more people."

The West Bengal government has announced a Rs 2 lakh compensation for each victim and said it will bear all medical costs.

However, it will have to answer some tough questions too. A day after the Kolkata tragedy, a different kind of fire raged In the Bengal Assembly, where the Opposition walked out protesting against what they called the government's mishandling of yesterday's incident and also demanding the resignation of Pratim Chatterjee, the fire and emergency services minister.

Stephen Court fire: Timeline

  • 1.50pm-2.05pm: Fire starts at Stephen Court
  • 2.15pm: Fire department control room gets a call about the fire
  • 2.25pm: Ten engines are required on the spot but only two arrive from the fire services headquarters in Free School Street
  • 2.30pm: Ten more fire engines are requisitioned but the tenders are unable to reach Stephen Court on time because of lack of drivers
  • 2.45pm: The flames spread rapidly to other parts of the building. Another 10 engines are demanded. Tenders from Barrackpore, Salt Lake Sector V and Behala start for Park Street
  • 2.50pm: Local people start a demonstration demanding taller ladders to reach up to the victims trapped on the upper floors
  • 3.05pm: A woman clad in salwar kameez stands on the iron bracket of an AC fourth floor of the building's gate No. 1 after being rescued by a man from one of the fire-engulfed rooms
  • 3.30pm: Two Bronto skylifts reach the spot, one from Sector V and another from Behala. Police commandos enter the building
  • 3.45pm: Parts of the building crumble and fall off. A burning AC machine crashes down
  • 3.50pm: The commandos save 98-year-old Ganeshri Devi from the fourth floor
  • 4:00pm: Explosions heard from within the building, probably gas cylinders bursting
  • 5:00pm: Thirty-nine engines are at work. One tender returns after developing a snag
  • 5.20pm: Fire department says blaze under control
  • 6:00pm: One man dies of burn injuries, five have earlier jumped to their deaths. Death count stands at 6
  • 11.50pm: Rapid Action Force deployed
  • 1.00am: Charred bodies being brought out of the building. Death count stands at 16, says fire department (With PTI inputs)

Also See:

Surfers' pics of the fire at Stephen Court
Kolkata fire: Sisters look for missing 22-yr-old
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