Pronab Dasgupta (left) and Mani Chhetri outside the Alipore court on Friday. Pictures by Pradip Sanyal

Calcutta, Jan. 27: Two doctors on the AMRI board were arrested this morning in what is being seen as an attempt by the Mamata Banerjee government to address charges of discrimination against a business community.

Mani Chhetri, 91, once famous for being Jyoti Basu’s doctor, and Pronab Dasgupta, a reputable gynaecologist in his sixties, were picked up from their homes in Ballygunge following an apparent push from chief minister Mamata Banerjee earlier this week.

Sources close to the chief minister said tonight that she was anxious to know the people’s reaction to the latest arrests. “She has asked her core group to find out the pulse of the people on the latest developments,” a Trinamul leader said.

A Calcutta-based industrialist said the government action came too late and it should look at the larger picture. “The administration should look at who was involved in day-to-day affairs and who was not,” he said.

A member of a national chamber said: “The focus should be on speedy delivery of justice. Punish the guilty, leave those who are not.”

The Alipore court this evening sent the doctors to the central lock-up at Lalbazar for a week. The police told the court they hoped the questioning of the doctors would yield information on “concealed documents” that could serve as evidence.

Chhetri was tonight taken to SSKM Hospital — he had headed the Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research and helped upgrade the departments of cardiology and medicine — after he complained of chest pain and respiratory distress. He is still the professor emeritus of SSKM and treats patients at the OPD every Monday.

Chhetri, the managing director of AMRI Hospitals since its inception in the mid-90s, was the licensee on behalf of the hospital. Dasgupta, who is attached to at least half-a-dozen top hospitals in the city and is also the president of East Bengal club, had been on the board since 2003.

“Both were part of meetings where all the strategic decisions were taken and were aware of the wrong-doings in the hospital’s basement. We have documentary proof against them,” said joint commissioner of police (crime) Damayanti Sen.

Sources in the home department said the chief minister had recently expressed concern about the flak her administration had been receiving for the alleged bias in arresting some members of the board while sparing others for 49 days since the December 9 fire.

Mamata had told senior officers that “it should not appear in any way that the new government was vindictive or biased”.

The sources added she had made it clear that it was not her intention to intervene in the investigation but that “it should be fair”.

The chief minister, who has been keeping regular updates of the probe from police commissioner R.K. Pachnanda, spoke to the police brass specifically about the charges of bias.

The Telegraph had reported on Monday the anger among relatives of the victims about the police’s inability to arrest “all those involved”.

Earlier this month, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) had issued a public statement stressing on the need to play a “non-discriminatory” role. Ficci had also sought the immediate release of those “not responsible for day-to-day operations of any business”.

The immediate response of Mamata to the December 9 tragedy in which 91 people choked to death had earned widespread praise.

Uncharacteristically, she left a flank unguarded as the police arrested only seven directors, all of who belonged to a business community, drawing charges of discrimination.

The seven are S.K. Todi, Ravi Todi, Prashant Goenka, Manish Goenka, Radheshyam Goenka, Radheshyam Agarwal and Dayanand Agarwal. Arrest warrants were issued against three other directors — Aditya V. Agarwal, Rahul Todi and Priti Sureka. But no action was initiated against directors such as Chhetri, Dasgupta and government representatives.

“The arrest of the two doctors on Friday was a move to counter all the allegations,” a home department official said.

Four days ago, the police arrested AMRI vice-president (administration) Preeta Banerjee and night administrator Sajid Hossain who were on the accused list since the day of the tragedy.

Senior officers in Lalbazar, however, asserted the spate of arrests was not “politically motivated”. “We had not arrested these people earlier because we were waiting for some documentary evidence against them,” said an officer.

Sources familiar with the investigation said that the police had feared Chhetri’s age could easily get him bail and that could help all the other directors walk free. “That is why we didn’t arrest them earlier,” the officer said.

The special investigating team had questioned Chhetri once at his Bally High home while Dasgupta was quizzed more than once at Lalbazar.

“Both had claimed that many strategic decisions were not taken with their permission. They had mentioned S.K. Todi as the man who ran the show,” said an investigating officer. “But no one had prevented them from resigning from their posts if they were aware of the irregularities in the hospital.”

Both doctors have been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, which can lead to a life term, and several other lesser sections of the Indian Penal Code and under the West Bengal Fire Safety Act.

The focus now shifts to government members on the board.