AMRI officials sent to custody, guards interrogated

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Two senior officials of the AMRI Hospital were arrested and sent to police custody while six of its security guards were interrogated over the Friday morning fire tragedy, which killed 93 people, police said on Tuesday.

"Senior vice president (projects) S. Upadhyay and senior manager (maintenance) Sanjiv Pal were sent to 10 day police custody by a court on Tuesday. They were arrested and produced before the court on the same day," Joint Commissioner of Police Damayanti Sen said.

Sen who heads a committee probing the tragedy said that six of the hospital's security guards were also interrogated though they have neither been detained nor arrested.

The guards were also questioned about the allegations made by local rescuers that they were denied entry inside the hospital by the guards, which resulted in more deaths.

The probe team has been inspecting the hospital premises on a daily basis and found evidences of several combustible substances including stacks of wool and ply boards that were stored in the basement, Sen added.

Police are also investigating the role of other members of the hospital administration who have not been arrested.

Earlier, seven directors of the hospital, including Shrachi Group chairman S.K. Todi and his counterpart in the Emami Group R.S. Goenka, were nabbed hours after the fire in South Kolkata's Dhakuria area and were remanded in 10 days' police custody by the Alipore chief judicial magistrate's court.

Of the seven directors, R.S. Agarwal, who got himself admitted to a private hospital, could not be presented before the court. He has been kept under arrest there.