Kolkata, Dec 9: Six persons, including industrialist S K Todi of the AMRI group were arrested and the licence of the hospital where 73 persons suffocated to death after a fire today, was cancelled.
“As per my announcement that offenders will be arrested, six persons, including S K Todi, have been arrested,” Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee told reporters.
“Law will take its own course. Those responsible for so many deaths, will be dealt with seriously,” she said.
Banerjee said 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.
The chief minister said a National Disaster Rescue Force team checked the hospital basement for radiation leak and forensic experts would also inquire into it. She said the hospital has been closed and would be sealed by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation after completion of rescue operations.
The previous Left Front government had given up its 93 per cent share of the total land for setting up the hospital, Banerjee said.
She said a high-level committee, with representatives from police, fire brigade, Kolkata Municipal Corporation and health department, has been formed to go into the cause of the fire.
Kolkata Police Commissioner R K Pachnanda said Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Damayanti Sen would supervise the functioning of the committee.
Besides Todi, others arrested were R S Goenka, Ravi Goenka, Manish Goenka, Prasanta Goenka and Dayananda Agarwal.
The six have been charged with negligence, culpable homicide not amounting to murder and attempt to culpable homicide,” a senior police official said.
