Tarapith: Prabir Pal, co-owner of the hotel in Tarapith where a pre-dawn fire on Monday claimed nine lives, was arrested on Tuesday. His son, Kalyan Pal, who is also a co-owner of the hotel, was arrested on Monday in connection with the blaze.
Before his arrest, Kalyan said the night-shift staff had immediately used fire extinguishers and disconnected the power supply after the fire broke out. He claimed the flames spread rapidly after catching fibre-based decorative materials. “Firefighters arrived and extinguished the flames, but the smoke had already risen up to the fifth floor. Panicked guests began rushing out of their rooms, only to find themselves facing the fire outside,” Kalyan had said.
According to officials, 22 boarders were initially rescued from the hotel and taken to hospital. Nine of them later died. As part of the investigation, police searched a pond adjacent to the hotel to ascertain whether any victim had jumped into it in panic or whether any body was lying there. Divers from the civil defence department took part in the operation, but nothing was found in the pond.
“We do not have any information or complaint about missing persons. In spite of that, we left no stone unturned,” a senior police officer said.
Streets of the temple town, which usually witness a rush of pilgrims on Tuesdays, remained comparatively empty a day after the blaze. Several tourists cut short their stay and left for home despite having hotel bookings until Wednesday or Thursday.