A murder case has been started against the Belilious Park authorities based on a complaint lodged by the family of a 25-year-old woman who died when a seating compartment of a ride crashed to the ground on Sunday afternoon.
No one was arrested till late on Monday.
Abhijit Singh, victim Neha Singh's uncle, alleged in his complaint that the compartment of the Hang Glider she was sharing with elder sister Sneha had come off a rusty joint because of poor maintenance by the authorities.
Witnesses said Neha and Sneha, residents of Howrah's Ghusuri, had fallen about 15ft. While Neha was declared dead at a hospital, Sneha was critically injured.
The amusement park, spread across more than 25 acres, was set up by the Howrah Municipal Corporation and leased out in 2002 to Panchdeep Constructions Limited. Besides eight rides, the complex has a water park, a lake, an auditorium and a museum.
The motorised Hang Glider has 20 gondolas or compartments suspended in the air. Each of them can seat two and are fixed to one of the four arms of the structure. As the arms move, each set of five such compartments rotates while revolving around the central axis and rising up and down.
"We have started a murder case against the park authorities on the basis of the complaint lodged by the victim's family. The park has been closed to the public for an indefinite period," said D.P. Singh, commissioner of police, Howrah.
The management of Panchdeep Constructions has been booked under IPC sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 326 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means). If convicted, they could be jailed for life.
The police chief said a forensic team would visit the park within a couple of days and examine the rides.
"The forensic team will examine the maintenance of the rides and ask for the documents from the park authorities. We need experts opinion on the maintenance," Singh said.
Singh visited Belilious Park on Monday morning with senior officers of Bantra police station.
On Monday, no employee of Panchdeep Constructions had turned up at the park. Only a few cops were lolling on benches on the park premises.
"We have interrogated the operator of the Hang Glider and a few guards on Sunday evening but they failed to say anything about maintenance," an officer of Bantra police station said. "We tried to call senior officials of the company that runs the park but they did not take calls."
Metro found the Panchdeep Constructions office on GT Road closed on Monday. Multiple calls to the cell phones of senior company officials went unanswered.
Rathin Chakraborty, the mayor of the Howrah Municipal Corporation, which owns the park, said the civic body did not have the infrastructure to examine the maintenance of the joy rides.
"We have decided to form an expert committee. The committee will examine the maintenance of Belilious Park and other parks of the town," Chakraborty said.