The Kolkata police said Thursday they have arrested five people, including a structural engineer and a site supervisor, in connection with the Taratala warehouse collapse, even as the death toll in the accident rose to 11. The case has now been transferred to the Detective Department, and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been constituted to probe alleged construction flaws.
The police lodged a suo motu FIR under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including those related to culpable homicide, attempt to commit culpable homicide, in connection with the Taratala warehouse collapse.
“We have so far arrested Gulzar Hussain, supervisor of Ayan Traders; Kamal Samanto, an iron structure fabricator; Sambhunath Behera, the lessee of the land; Dibakar Bhandari, a labour supplier and Trimex contractor; and Abdul Hamid, who allegedly acted as a broker for obtaining sanction plans from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC),” a senior Kolkata police officer told The Indian Express.
The first four were named in the FIR registered at the Taratala Police Station.
Rescue operations continue
An under-construction warehouse on P2 Transport Depot Road in Kolkata’s Taratala area collapsed around 12.05 pm on Wednesday, trapping several labourers under the debris.
As rescue operations continued, the death toll rose to 11. Police said 25 people had initially been pulled out of the debris, of whom five were declared dead on arrival at the hospital. Several injured workers remain under treatment, while search and rescue teams continue efforts to locate those feared trapped beneath the rubble.
Authorities have yet to ascertain the exact number of workers at the site when the structure collapsed. Residents had earlier claimed that as many as 50 labourers could have been present inside the warehouse.
Rescue operations involving teams from the Kolkata Police’s Disaster Management Group, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, the Fire and Emergency Services, the Civil Defence, and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) continued Thursday.
Earlier in the day, the Indian Army’s Eastern Command said that search and rescue operations are underway at the site of the collapse of the under-construction godown in Taratala.
“In close coordination with #NDRF, #SDRF and #KolkataPolice, seven specialised #IndianArmy teams, supported by medical personnel, ambulances and advanced engineering equipment, including cutting machinery and high-intensity illumination systems, remain deployed. A fully equipped 10-bedded emergency medical facility with Medical and Surgical Specialists has been established on-site to provide immediate care,” it said in a post on X.
It added that 31 people have been rescued so far and rescue operations “continue unabated with all efforts focused on locating and rescuing those still feared trapped under the debris”.
Probe underway
The SIT will be headed by the deputy commissioner of police (Detective Department) and includes Joysurja Mukherjee, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Inspector Debasis Dutta, Officer-in-Charge of the Homicide Squad, Inspector Hirak Dalapati, who has been appointed the new investigating officer in the case, Inspector Sarfaraz Ahmed of the Anti-Rowdy Squad, and Sub-Inspectors Manas Bhattacharya and Kushal Mondal of Taratala Police Station.
The police said they are probing allegations of construction lapses at the site, including claims that tin sheets were used beneath the concrete roofing structure.
After the collapse of the Taratala warehouse roof, West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari announced a suspension of all under-construction work across Kolkata until July 31 and ordered audit of all ongoing projects.