KOLKATA: The owner of Seetala Udipi Hotel, P Gangadhar Rao, was arrested on Tuesday on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder after a fire in his restaurant killed two of his employees on Monday night. He has been remanded in police custody.
Flames from edible oil (not an LPG cylinder blast as initially thought) is suspected to be the cause of the fire at the popular eatery on Central Avenue. Forensic experts visited the spot on Tuesday and collected samples.
The forensic team found that the eatery was a small, enclosed space with no outlet for smoke. Cook Littu Singh and waiter Mahesh were trapped and died of heat and suffocation. Rao, a resident of RL Mitra Road, has been booked under Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 285 (fire caused by negligence) IPC, and Sections 11J and 11L of the West Bengal Fire Services Act. The forensic team noted that no fire safety equipment whatsoever had been installed in the eatery.
"It seems that flames from cooking oil in a pan caused the fire, which spread to gas pipelines. The forensic report will confirm the exact cause," said director, Forensic Science Laboratory D Sengupta.
Littu and Mahesh were on the mezzanine floor of the eatery when the fire broke out at 9.30pm. There were three other employees in the kitchen who escaped.
"I don't know how I came out alive. I will have nightmares of this for a long time," said Bullu, who climbed through a narrow window and jumped out. It was he who got a ladder to rescue the two others, but Mahesh and Littu had already suffocated to death. There were nearly seven LPG cylinders in the kitchen. Luckily none exploded.
Source | http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata-/Hotel-owner-held-for-killer-blaze/articleshow/7062596.cms#ixzz17pt08w3S