A contractor engaged for interior work on the first floor of Rituraj Hotel, where a fire killed 14 people, has been arrested.

Khurshid Alam, 42, is a resident of Rifle Range Road in Karaya. He was arrested on Thursday evening.

Police said several inflammable items belonging to Alam were found on the first floor, where renovation was underway. They could have caused the fire.

“The hotel was extending its bar on the first floor, adjoining the kitchen. The labourers recruited by Khurshid Alam were in the habit of cooking using fire at the work site. According to the forensic findings, the fire possibly started from there and not the kitchen,” said an officer of the detective department.

Alam, who was arrested from the parking space of his house, was produced at Sealdah court on Friday.

The prosecution submitted before the court: “He (Khurshid), being given the renovation work of the first floor of Rituraj Hotel, had engaged labourers and arranged for cooking with fire for those at the work site. Moreover, huge amounts of inflammable and combustible items were also piled up on the first floor of Rituraj Hotel for the renovation work. It is evident that he has knowledge that such co-existence may cause fire and result in loss of human lives, but he refrained from setting up proper fire safety measures.”

Alam’s defence lawyer said his client was neither the hotel’s owner nor a staff member and had been contracted for the renovation work.

“My client had been engaged only for some interior designing. He has the work order and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation licence. He had been engaged since August 20 last year,” the defence lawyer said.

He said Alam did not have any connection with the alleged cooking in the hotel, and that it was done by the hotel staff.

The court sent Alam to police remand till May 7.

On Thursday morning, one of the owners of Rituraj Hotel, Akash Chawla, was arrested. He has been charged with causing the deaths of 14 people in the fire at the hotel on Tuesday night. He has been formally accused of flouting fire safety rules.

The hotel’s manager, Gaurav Kapoor, was also arrested.

Chawla and Kapoor were produced at Sealdah court on Thursday. They were sent to police remand for a week.

Of the 14 dead, one was a staff member who had panicked and jumped from the third floor to save himself. The other 13 had died either choking on smoke or because of thermal burns.

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

Twelve of the 14 dead had been identified by Thursday. On Friday, the police identified the remaining two as Vishal Kumar, 25, from Bairi, Patna, and Sahil Kumar, 22, from
Gopalpur, Patna.