Delhi Hospital Fire: Cops To Check Call Records Of Accused, Question Owner's Wife

The Delhi Police will check call records and messages of the two accused arrested in connection with a fire at a neonatal facility here and question the hospital owner's wife, officials said on Tuesday.

They said investigators have already seized the mobile phones of the accused -- Dr Naveen Kichi, the owner of Baby Care New Born Hospital in east Delhi's Vivek Vihar, and Dr Akash, who was on duty at the time of the incident.

A senior police officer privy to the investigation said Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) officials under whose jurisdiction the hospital came will also be questioned.

Police are also investigating the source of the fire, who was the first to notice it and the time taken by firefighters to reach the spot after receiving information about the incident, said the officer who did not wish to be named.

"We have also written to the health department regarding guidelines for running neonatal hospitals," he said.

"As part of the investigation, we have seized the mobile phones of the accused to check their call records and the messages exchanged between them. We will also check if any message was deleted," he said.

If needed, mobile phones of other staff members will also be checked, he added.

Police have summoned Dr Khichi's wife Jagriti, a dentist and co-owner of the neonatal hospital, according to the officials.

Police have asked the hospital owners to submit degrees and certificates of the doctors, nurses and paramedic staff employed at the facility.

The officials said there was a half an hour delay in informing the authorities about the fire. At least five PCR calls were made between 11.29 pm to 11.32 pm to report the fire.

During the investigation, it was found that the fire broke out at 11 pm on Saturday but distress calls to fire and police departments were made only at 11.30 pm, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara) Surendra Choudhary.

"We are focusing on why the call was not made half an hour earlier when the fire started," he said.

Kichi, 45, owns three more hospitals in Punjabi Bagh, Faridabad, and Gurugram, the DCP said.

"Police teams will also visit these hospitals for a detailed investigation," he said.

According to police sources, a list of more than 15 questions has been prepared for the hospital staff and teams will visit Kichi's other three hospitals to check doctors' credentials and if these facilities are following fire norms.

"During the investigation, we also found that some other children's hospitals used to refer newborns to this hospital on a high commission basis. A probe has been launched into this as well," a source said.

According to the source, someone from the hospital was found to have tipped off the Punjabi Bagh, Faridabad and Gurugram facilities to check their oxygen cylinders and get rid of extra ones.

Several safety lapses were found at the five-bed neonatal centre in Vivek Vihar. A total of 27 oxygen cylinders were found inside and outside the hospital building and five of them exploded during the deadly blaze.

"We will check the records of these hospitals to find out how many infants were undergoing treatment there at the time of the fire incident in Delhi. Two doctors and six nurses will be questioned on Tuesday and other staff will be questioned on Wednesday," said an official part of the probe.

The DGHS officer who had issued a licence to the Baby Care New Born Child Hospital, which expired on March 31, will also be questioned, police said.

"We have written a letter to DGHS, MCD and fire department as there are a few things that we want to know for our investigation," said a senior police officer of the eastern range.

A Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) source confirmed that the agency has received a letter from the Delhi Police.

"We have received a letter from the Delhi Police enquiring about the building plan authorisation and licence of the hospital," the source said.

After the fire tragedy, which claimed the lives of six newborns and left five injured, the Delhi government has directed all state-run and private health facilities to conduct fire audits.

On Monday, a city court allowed a Delhi Police plea seeking three-day custodial interrogation of Kichi and Akash.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)