KOLKATA: Police on Friday arrested AMRI Managing Director Mani Chhetri and government-nominated board member Pranab Dasgupta in connection with the December-9 blaze that killed 94 people. The two well-known doctors were later produced at the Alipore Court which remanded them in police custody till February 2.
With Friday’s arrests, 13 top AMRI officials and staff were held for the massive fire. Of these, nine were members of the hospital’s director board while four were doctors employed there. R S Agarwal, who was earlier arrested in connection with the incident,is still undergoing treatment at the government-run SSKM Hospital. Sources in the state police said the hospital’s licence had been taken in Chhetri’s name. A renowned general physician, Chhethri along with Dasgupta was said to be involved in the hospital’s day-to-day operations. Chhetri and Dasgupta, claimed that they were consulted only on major decisions and were not part of the AMRI’s daily operations. A leading gynaecologist, Dasgupta had been in neighbouring Bangladesh following the hospital blaze, police sources said. Both the doctors had been questioned by the police. Majority of the victims of the deadly fire that raged through the super-specialty hospital were patients admitted there.
And the blaze which originated in the basement of the multi-storeyed structure,resulted in the release of poisonous fumes that choked the victims to death.