Kolkata: Kolkata Police on Wednesday registered an FIR against Stephen's Court building owner Sanjay Bagaria and arrested two of his associates.
The FIR was registered under Indian Penal Code Section 304 (Culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and Section 11/C of Fire Safety Act. The two people arrested include caretakers Tarun Bagaria and Ram Shankar Singh.
However, Sanjay is still absconding.
Kolkata Police Commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakraborty said that Stephen's Court building, which caught fire in Tuesday resulting in the death of at least 24 people, had no safety measures in place and many exit routes were blocked.
Chakraborty said that 25 people were still missing.
"I am not blaming anyone. It will not be fair for me at this stage but I can assure you that whoever is responsible for the bad maintenance of the building, for not having adequate fire safety arrangements and also for blocking some entrance and exists from and to the building will be taken to book as per law," said Chakraborty.
He also said that the real cause of the fire was still not clear.
"You know yesterday when the fire had taken place there were some eyewitnesses who saw the fire starting from the lift, but that is what they saw. It may or may not be the actual reason," he said.
"The thing is that the lift sharing is on two sides. In fact the lifts were between the staircases and the two sides of the staircases were blocked. There were flats and other offices. So the fire could spread very fast. The team is already there. They are collecting evidences and by tomorrow (Thursday) they will be able to give us some ideas as to what really caused the fire," added the Police Commissioner.
The building also housed Flury's and Peter Cat. The 150-year-old building caught on Tuesday afternoon at around 1430 hrs IST.
As many as 300 firemen and 40 fire tenders and snorkels were sent to fight the blaze. Fire brigade officials took more than four hours to bring the blaze under control.
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