KOCHI: Even three days after the food poisoning case at Majlis hotel in North Paravoor,in which around 65 were hospitalised, the police have not been able to arrest the owner of the hotel. Ernakulam rural police are still groping in the dark about the whereabouts of the owner of the hotel, Ziyad Ul Haq, who went missing soon after the health wing of the North Paravoor Municipality lodged a complaint with the police. Meanwhile,on Wednesday the police took into custody Asianar, a staff of the hotel.
“We are collecting evidence. The cook is under remand. Our team is searching for the hotel owner as well,” Prasanth T Nair, sub-inspector of North Paravoor station,said. The food safety department has sent the samples collected from the hotel for further lab tests.Jacob Thomas, the food safety officer of Ernakulam, said that the test results may take some time.”We have sent the samples collected from Majlis hotel to the regional analytical laboratory in Kakkanad. However, the results may take time as there are many processes involved,” said Jacob.
Following the incident, the municipality has intensified raids at hotels in the municipality area. V A Prabhavathi,North Paravoor municipality chairperson, said that raids have been carried out in many hotels in the municipality following the incident. “I have asked the health wing to conduct regular inspections at hotels every day and to submit reports by evening,” she added.
The canteen at the Taluk hospital has been closed down considering the safety of the people. “We have decided to regularly inspect hotels. Every day, one or two hotels will be inspected to ensure food safety,” said Shyamala Govindan, health standing committee chairperson of North Paravoor muncipality .
Meanwhile, the Kalamassery police said that the police are investigating the stale meat case and collecting information in every possible way. “The accused in the case, Junais O and Nissar Marakkar, are still absconding,” P R Santhosh Kumar, circle inspector of Kalamasserry said.