Delhi Police on Sunday arrested Rakesh Goel, owner of Hotel Arpit Palace, in connection with Karol Bagh fire, which had killed 17 people on Tuesday (February 12).
The arrest comes two days after Delhi's Home Minister Satyendra Jain had expressed surprise that owner of the hotel was roaming freely. "Surprising that owner of the hotel has not been arrested yet by police, looks like he belongs to some political party. He probably belongs to BJP that is why has not been arrested till now," Jain had told news agency ANI.
The arrest followed a probe ordered by North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) mayor on the day of the incident. The report was expected on Saturday.
The hotel falls under Karol Bagh Zone of the NDMC and indicated violation of civic norms including running a makeshift restaurant on the rooftop.
The mayor had also visited the site of the fire that broke out early on Tuesday and took stock of the situation.
Suggesting that a short-circuit may have led to the incident, a senior NDMC official on Tuesday said, as per the records, the building had faced "intermittent partial demolition" or other civic action under the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act from mid-June 1993 to January 1994, for unauthorised constructions.
There are apparent civic norms violations, including running a makeshift restaurant on the rooftop, adding that the probe will take into account all of that and previous violations if any, the official said.
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