Kolkata: Abu Jafar (32), leaseholder of Shikha Inn on Free School Street, where nine people died in a fire early on Wednesday, was arrested from the Entally area by a special investigation team (SIT) late on Wednesday. The Bankshall court on Thursday sent Jafar to police custody till Sept 2.Jafar lived on Madan Mohan Burman Street at Mechhua Phol Patti in Jorasanko with his wife and two children. He took lease of Shika Inn, the lodge on the second floor of 15G, Mirza Ghalib Street, from owner, Bireswar Mitra five months ago at Rs 40,000 a month. Mitra, a resident of Behala, was currently on the run, police said. Jafar had reportedly tried to flee to UP to his in-law’s relatives’ place but was caught.Police have found that the lease was in Jafar’s wife’s name and she, too, was on the run. “We have searched Jafar’s residence but are yet to seize the lease documents. Jafar claims it is with his wife,” said a senior officer. Mitra owns the fourth floor of the same building, where Sikha Inn is located. “He leased this portion to another person. We are checking whether that floor has fire and trade licences. Mitra has leased all his properties to different people, whether it’s Jaapon Hotel and Shikha Inn on Free School Street or his two hotels in Digha,” said the officer.The investigation revealed that Jafar and Mitra turned the floor space into a reception and nine rooms, dividing the area with plywood partitions. They had installed false ceiling. Originally, there were five rooms. “It seems there are agents who arranged for the licences. We will take action against them,” said an officer.Two other persons, Indradev Paswan and Vijay Paswan, a manager and an employee of Jafar and considered close to him and Mitra, recorded their statements, ostensibly on Mitra and his possible escape route.Jafar was produced before chief judicial magistrate Payel Banerjee. Seeking his custody, public prosecutor Arup Chakraborty told the court that the fire exposed several lapses at the hotel, including inadequate firefighting arrangements and the absence of a fire alarm. Chakraborty told the court that nine people died in the blaze, several of them Bangladeshi nationals. He submitted the hotel was run as a commercial establishment without necessary documentation.Seeking police custody, Chakraborty said investigators needed to interrogate Jafar to establish how the hotel operated and to ascertain the responsibility for the lapses that ostensibly contributed to the tragedy. Police subsequently arrested Jafar, him being the leaseholder. The prosecution claimed Jafar failed to produce relevant documents. The counsel for Jafar, including Sandip Ghosh and Fazle Ahmed Khan, sought his bail, arguing the hotel was several decades old and changed hands multiple times. “It’s a tragic incident that so many lives were lost but Jafar cannot be held accountable for that. Police should find the owner and arrest him,” Ghosh told the court.
