Two persons — the caretaker of Stephen Court, the building on Park Street where a fire broke out on Tuesday claiming at least 24 lives — and his associate were remanded to 14-day police custody by a city court here on Thursday.
Tarun Bagadia (38) and Ravi Shankar Singh (63) were arrested by the city police on Wednesday. The fire brigade had filed a complaint under various provisions of the West Bengal Fire Services Act, 1950 and the Indian Penal Code as the building violated several safety norms.
The upper two floors of the building were not a part of the original 1937 structure. They had been constructed in 1984 without obtaining the sanction of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, but had later been regularised after the payment of a penalty.
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While a number of unauthorised partitions had come up, creating hurdles in the escape route for victims, the building violated several other fire safety guidelines.
The building was operated by a private concern and the police are now trying to identify the owners so that action can also be taken against them.