The death toll in the Taratala warehouse collapse has risen to 11 by Wednesday evening. Nineteen people who were injured are being treated at SSKM hospital. Rescue operations are still under way as there was no maintenance of register by the contractor or supervisor, said the police. Heavy rains in the afternoon in Kolkata disrupted search operations for sometime.
“There are no exact records, hence we cannot say whether people are still there (trapped),” said Kunal Agarwal, Additional Commissioner of Police(Crime). The Detective Department of Kolkata Police and Special Investigation Team (SIT) are probing further details into the case.
Four persons who were arrested in the incident have been produced in court with police seeking for remand. The fifth person named in the FIR has also been arrested. Two are found to have past criminal records and have been chargesheeted. These include Asghar Hussain, the contractor who died in the incident and Abdul Hamid, the broker who assisted in sanctioning the plan from Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC). Asghar was chargesheeted in two cases in 2013 and 2018, including kidnapping and extortion. Hamid has been chargesheeted in a case at Ekbalpore in 2018.
The supervisor, Ghulam Hussain, was also arrested along with Dibakar Bhandari, the labour supplier-cum-tremix contractor. The lessee of the land, Sambunath Behera, who was arrested from his residence on Wednesday night, had six flats in the same building, which were searched by the police. Behera ran the business with his wife after he fell out with his brother, a business partner.
“All witnesses will be examined,” added Agarwal. However, the officer declined to comment on the sanction plan as the police have asked KMC for the plan and are yet to get it.
