Firemen searched for missing persons in the debris, three days after the landmark Stephen Court on famed Park Street was ravaged by a devastating fire, even as municipal workers began demolishing damaged portions of the top floors of the building.
Forensic experts are scheduled to conduct DNA tests today on four of the 24 retrieved bodies whose identity remained disputed in claims and counter-claims.
The firemen, who gained access to the ravaged interiors of the fifth and sixth floors of the building yesterday, were today busy removing the debris in search of missing persons.
Police said the stench from one corner of the fifth floor had prompted the firemen to look for possible bodies hidden underneath the rubble.
As a special team of the KMC, assisted by personnel of the civil defence, began demolishing the damaged parts of the top fifth and sixth floors of the building, a section of the residents demonstrated demanding that they be allowed access to the building before the demolition began to collect their valuables.
The police and KMC officials had a tough time pacifying the demonstrators some of whom, including women, were seen lunging at the officials present to oversee the exercise.
A senior KMC official announced through a megaphone that only damaged parts of the fifth and sixth floor of the building, and not the entire two floors, would be pulled down.
He said the demolition became necessary as the fire-ravaged parts were in a precarious condition which might further endanger lives.
The 20 bodies, identified so far, have been handed over to relatives after post-mortem.
The police is looking for the building promoter Sanjay Bagadia after caretaker Tarun Bagadia and Ram Shankar Singh were arrested yesterday, Joint CP Jawed Shamim said.
Shamim told PTI that police was looking for some more people in connection with the fire tragedy, however, he refused to divulge further details.
