NEW DELHI: Two coaching institute operators were arrested and later let out on bail in connection with the Mukherjee Nagar coaching institute fire, police said on Friday.
A fire at Bhandari House in Mukherjee Nagar's Batra Complex jeopardised the lives of scores of students taking coaching classes there, raising concerns about the fire safety standards in buildings across the thickly populated area where there are coaching centres in just about every nook and corner.
The two men were booked under sections 336, 337, and 338, all related to act endangering life or personal safety of others, and 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC at the Mukherjee Nagar Police Station, Deputy Commissioner of Police (northwest) Jitendra Meena said.
During the investigation, statements of 12 students and four staff members were recorded, police said.
Police also said they might use 3-D laser scans to recreate the scene.
Shivesh Mishra, 45, a resident of Mukherjee Nagar, and Shyam Sunder Bharti, 54, a resident of Model Town, were arrested in the matter and later released on bail by a court, the DCP said.
Police said that both men are connected to coaching institutes that are being operated from the Bhandari House.
One of them is the CEO of one of the institutes, while the other is the owner of another coaching institute, they said.
According to the fire department officials, in their inspection in the wake of the fire they found the building had no fire equipment.
"There was also a delay of 10 to 15 minutes in the fire call. The first call came at 12.27 pm, however, it had started around 12.15 pm. It is suspected that the coaching staff and the locals tried to douse the blaze themselves. Fire tenders reached the spot within nine minutes of the call," a senior fire official said.
The Delhi High Court on Friday took suo motu cognisance of the fire and asked the authorities to examine the safety status of all such institutes in the city.
A bench of Justices Jasmeet Singh and Vikas Mahajan took note of news reports on Thursday's incident which saw students of the coaching institute smash windows and climb down ropes in desperate attempts to escape.
Issuing a notice in the matter, the bench asked the Delhi Fire Service Department to examine the fire safety certificate of all coaching centres in the city and asked it, as well as the Delhi Police, to state its stand.
Similarly, it also asked the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to look into the sanctioned building plans of such establishments.
Eleven fire tenders were pressed into service to put out the fire, which is speculated to have emanated from a short circuit in the main switchboard.
Police had earlier said that around 250 students were attending classes in the five-storey building at the time of the incident.
As many as 61 students were taken to different hospitals for treatment.
Out of these, 50 were discharged on Thursday from hospitals and the rest were undergoing treatment.
Police said that around seven to eight students are undergoing treatment and the rest were discharged.
Mukherjee Nagar is a coaching hub for government job aspirants and a popular hangout zone for students from the nearby Delhi University campus.