Ram Bahadur Shaw’s sons Hridesh and Dilesh at a friend’s home. A Telegraph picture

Promoter Kashinath Jaiswal and his associate Amarnath Prasad have confessed to the gas-and-grab plot at 276 GT Road, police have informed the Howrah court in their preliminary report.

The sleuths, however, are yet to track down the people the duo had allegedly engaged to feed LPG gas into Ram Bahadur Shaw’s room at the address — owned by Jaiswal — and setting it ablaze on Wednesday night.

Shaw’s wife Kewala Devi was charred to death, while he himself is battling for life in hospital. A neighbour, Jubo Malik, rescued the couple’s daughter Deepali, but she died in hospital the next day. The girl had suffered 90 per cent burns.

“It’s a case of sabotage. Investigations are on to find out what had happened and identify the people involved in the conspiracy,” said Niraj Singh, the superintendent of Howrah police.

“It seems the duo had hired men to execute the job. We spoke to Malik and recorded his statement,” said an officer of Shibpur police station.

Jaiswal, arrested on Thursday along with Shaw, had allegedly hatched the murder plot to vacate the 12 tenanted rooms at 276 GT Road, which he wanted to raze and construct a multi-storeyed building in its place.

Local residents alleged that the police are trying to shield Jaiswal.

“Jaiswal has clout among policemen and promoters in Howrah. That was why the police had initially refused to register a complaint against him. Even now, the cops are trying to make Amarnath the scapegoat and let Jaiswal off the hook,” a local resident alleged.