Kolkata: Establishing the financial trail that facilitated the vetting of the Taratala warehouse project is the focus of the Lalbazar SIT probe into the collapse. The team is preparing to produce six arrested accused, including Kalicharan Banerjee, suspended officer on special duty (OSD) to former KMC mayor Firhad Hakim, warehouse owner, site supervisor and a structural engineer, in court on Saturday.The under-construction tea warehouse in Taratala collapsed on June 24, leading to the death of 16, most of them workers at the site. Banerjee is under investigation for allegedly legitimizing unauthorised building plans in exchange for kickbacks. Police said besides documents recovered from the residences of Banerjee, warehouse owner Sambhunath Behera and a middleman, Abdul Hamid, they were also relying on interrogation statements to map the illegal operations.During his questioning, Hamid has reportedly revealed how he secured approvals for the building design. The SIT is currently examining a trail of Rs 20 lakh, which allegedly changed hands to get the illegal design sanctioned.A preliminary audit by KMC showed severe construction lapses, such as the builders skipping mandatory soil testing before construction and the structure being built with poor-quality concrete and substandard iron beams, with significant deviations from prescribed structural gaps between weight-bearing pillars. Contractors also failed to maintain a workers’ register. .
