Kolkata:
Two more officials of the AMRI Hospital have been arrested for Friday's devastating fire which left 91 people, including 89 patients, dead.
The officials, Satyabrata Upadhyay, the Senior Vice-President of the hospital and Sanjib Pal, the Senior General Manager of the maintenance wing at AMRI, were arrested this morning.
Six board members, including prominent industrialists SK Todi and RS Goenka, were arrested after they voluntarily surrendered at a local police station on Friday evening. They have been charged with culpable homicide and are in police custody till December 20.
There were 160 people inside the hospital in Dhakuria, south Kolkata, when the fire began in the basement, where highly inflammable material was allegedly stored.
Eyewitnesses say they first spotted smoke at about 3 am, but the first fire engine arrived nearly two hours later. Fire service officials, however, maintain that they were informed at 4.10 am and they responded immediately.
Families of the victims and the government have accused the privately-owned hospital of ignoring basic fire safety laws. Relatives and eyewitnesses also said that doctors and other hospital staff abandoned the patients after the fire began. Many of the patients were admitted in the orthopaedic ward; they were immobile and could not move out to safety, they claimed.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had described the tragedy as "an unforgivable crime" and vowed "the harshest punishment possible" for those found responsible. Ms Banerjee had said that the fire services authorities and the police had cautioned the AMRI Hospital authorities in September about its basement. "AMRI had given an undertaking, but did not keep it," she said.
Fire department officials have claimed that the hospital did not have adequate fire-fighting facilities, a charge that has been denied by the hospital authorities.
After the fire, the hospital's licence was cancelled and a First Information Report (FIR) was filed.
AMRI hospital was set up in 1996, and is co-owned by the Emami & Shrachi Groups.
(With agency inputs)