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S.K. Todi
Designation: Director
His responsibilities: He didn’t have a cabin of his own at AMRI Dhakuria but ran the show. S.K. Todi would hold meetings with hospital staff in the conference hall on the first floor of Annexe I and do the rounds of the buildings in the complex regularly.
He used to interact frequently with vice-president (operations) Rajesh Parekh, vice-president (administration) Preeta Banerjee, vice-president (commercial) Sunil Jaiswal, safety commission chairman Satyabrata Upadhyay and security in-charge P.K. Ghata. He oversaw all medical operations and superintendent Suman Ghosh reported to him.
Police raided Todi Mansion, near Tiretta Bazar in central Calcutta, on Thursday for documents pertaining to ownership and management decisions.
His interrogation: He has been questioned in the anti-dacoity section of the detective department for approximately four-five hours at intervals on all six days since his arrest.
In the first stage of the investigation, all six directors were interrogated individually with S.K. Todi always being the first to face the cops. The questions included when he first heard about the fire and from whom to what he did next.
He has been questioned in the presence of his fellow directors and executives Preeta and Satyabrata on different occasions. Satyabrata had first refused to be in the room when S.K.Todi was brought for questioning. “Sir ke samne kaise baith sakte hain…,” he had told the cops.
His statement: “I had asked some of my senior staff to clear the basement of the inflammable articles a few months back,” S.K. Todi told the police.
His safety code: S.K. Todi had ostensibly expressed concern about parts of the building, including the basement, a couple of months ago. Sitaram Mondal, who was on contract to maintain the basement, was removed soon after.
Sitaram wasn’t the original contractor. Kulveer Harikat, employed elsewhere by the Shrachi group, had been chosen for the job but he hired Sitaram as a sub-contractor. The condition of the basement remained the same, but hospital officials were scared to complain about Harikat to the top management because he was thought to be “very close” to S.K. Todi.
Vice-president (administration) Preeta has told the police that she had alerted S.K. Todi to the basement not being properly maintained despite the contractor being changed. Police say they have printouts of emails Preeta had written to her boss.
Contradictions: Some of S.K. Todi’s statements have been contradictory, especially about the time the fire was spotted and reported.
He has told the cops that he “did the needful” to get the basement cleared months before the fire tragedy occurred. But S.K. Todi has been mum on why he didn’t take appropriate action when Preeta alerted him to the poor condition of the basement even after the contract was given to someone else.
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Ravi Todi
Designation: Director
His responsibilities: S.K. Todi’s elder son attended the board meetings but was not involved in the daily functioning of the Dhakuria hospital. Has diversified into real estate and finance.
His statement: He said he looked after the other family businesses with brother Rahul and pleaded ignorance about the storage of inflammable articles in the hospital basement.
Cop focus: The police are looking for papers to ascertain the nature of his involvement in the hospital management.
Contradictions: He claimed he had not been alerted about the fire on time but call records suggest otherwise.
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D.N. Agarwal
Designation: Executive director
His responsibilities: The only salaried member of the AMRI board — the rest get “sitting fees” for attending meetings — was the second in command at the Dhakuria facility after S.K. Todi. His cabin was on the first floor of Annexe I.
Agarwal would visit the hospital regularly until he took ill a few months ago. Like S.K. Todi, he was in the loop about everything through the heads of departments.
His interrogation: Agarwal has been questioned mostly alone, and for not more than two hours at a stretch because of his health problems. The cops have focused on asking him questions about the senior staff and their assigned duties.
On Wednesday, he was overheard telling a woman employee of the hospital’s patient service department at Lalbazar: “Staff logon ko bolo sab theek ho jayega… Aamra dekhchhi ki kora jete pare…(Tell the staff everything will be all right. We are seeing what we can do).”
His statements: “I wasn’t in the know about hospital affairs of late because of my illness. I came to know about the fire much later,” he told the cops.
Agarwal has also said he didn’t attend the board meeting last month when the resolution to set up a fire safety committee was passed.
Contradictions: The police have punched holes in some of Agarwal’s statements through cellphone call details and the interrogation records of his colleagues. Investigators say there is evidence to prove all these six directors were “kept informed” about the fire and its aftermath.
Also, it was the practice to email or hand deliver the minutes of all board meetings to anyone who couldn’t attend a particular session. So Agarwal was surely in the loop about what was discussed at the last meeting, the police say.
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R.S. Goenka
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Prashant Goenka
Designation: Directors
Their responsibilities: R.S. Goenka is a director and co-founder of the Emami Group. He is also a board member of Emami Paper Mills and Emami Realty, whose projects include South City. Nephew Prashant is a director and part of the management team of the Emami Group.
Although both are directors of AMRI Dhakuria, the duo were apparently not involved in the day-to-day functioning of the hospital. But they used to attend the board meetings.
Their interrogation: The Goenkas were interrogated for several hours on Sunday to confirm the chain of command at AMRI Dhakuria and fix responsibility for the fire-safety violations. But the duo have not been able to shed light on how the Dhakuria facility functioned on a daily basis, say the cops.
Their joint statement: “We are more involved in other projects and are directors of the hospital only on paper.”
Contradictions: In the initial stage of the investigation, both had insisted that they were not informed about the fire at the same time as the other directors. Call records proved otherwise. They have not been able to explain how — if at all — they helped manage the crisis after getting the news, according to the police.
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Manish Goenka
Designation: Director
His responsibilities: The younger of R.S. Goenka’s sons used to visit the Dhakuria hospital only to attend board meetings, held once in three months. He ran the show at the AMRI units in Salt Lake and Mukundapur with Aditya V. Agarwal, a director who is now abroad and son of R.S. Agarwal, who is under arrest in a private hospital.
His interrogation: The youngest of the six directors was questioned daily over the past six days. Police said he was often heard consoling the others.
His statement: He told police that he had reached the hospital around 5.30am on Friday and tried his best to control the situation, though he was not involved in the daily affairs of the facility.
Cop focus: The police are trying to find out the extent of his involvement in the management of the Dhakuria hospital and whether he had attended the last board meeting.
Contradictions: Sleuths have not yet found any.
