One of the owners of Rituraj Hotel, where a fire on Tuesday evening killed 14, was arrested on Thursday morning.

Akash Chawla has been charged with causing the deaths of 14 people who were either working at his hotel or were there as guests. He has also been formally accused of flouting fire safety rules.

The hotel's manager, Gaurav Kapoor, has also been arrested.

More than 100 people were trapped inside the five-storey building after the fire broke out on the first floor.

Both were produced before Sealdah court on Thursday. Their defence lawyer said Chawla was not attached to the daily operations of the hotel while Kapoor was “only an employee”.

Chawla and Kapoor are residents of Howrah.

Police officers who have examined the accused said they have “claimed innocence” about the lack of fire equipment.

One of them reportedly told the police that the hotel had sprinklers, but he was not aware that the sprinklers were defunct.

“Both the owner and the manager were aware that there were several lacunae in the hotel,” the prosecution's lawyer told the additional chief judicial magistrate's court in Sealdah.

The lawyer said: “Apart from that, there was no emergency exit, no fire safety measures despite high occupancy, no fire fighting safety equipment and thus the incident of the devastating fire causing deaths.”

The two have been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, attempt of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and violation of the fire safety norms

The police said that during the investigation, it was clear that the fire licence of the building was not renewed after 2022.

Sources in the police said it has been found that the bar on the first floor was owned by Vivek Chawla and, after his death, the ownership passed on to his nearest kin. The police are probing whether the hotel had the necessary police permit to run even after the fire licence had lapsed three years ago.

After hearing both sides, the magistrate sent the duo to police remand for a week.

“Considering the nature and gravity of the alleged offence, and the nascent stage of investigation, the prayer for bail of these accused persons is rejected at this stage and the prayer for police remand of these accused persons is allowed till May 8 for fruitful investigation, with a hope that the investigating officer shall unearth substantial material against these accused persons in the instant case by properly utilizing this PC period,” the magistrate ordered.