Kolkata Police file chargesheet against hotel owner, 2 others over Mirza Ghalib St hotel fire that killed 9

Kolkata Police have filed a chargesheet against the owner of Shikha Inn Hotel and two others in connection with the August fire at the hotel on Mirza Ghalib Street that killed nine people, including five Bangladeshi nationals, officials aware of the investigation said.Five Bangladeshi nationals, including a three-year-old boy, were among nine people killed around 2 am on August 19 when a fire broke out on the second floor of an old five-storey building at 15H Mirza Ghalib Street in Kolkata.“The chargesheet was submitted in court on Thursday against Bireshwar Roy, the hotel’s owner, Abu Zafar, who took the hotel on lease, and Zafar’s wife, Sabah Zafar. They have been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder and violation of various safety rules,” a police officer said, requesting anonymity.Five Bangladeshi nationals, including a three-year-old boy, were among nine people killed around 2 am on August 19 when a fire broke out on the second floor of an old five-storey building at 15H Mirza Ghalib Street in Kolkata.Also read: Began on second floor, only one entry/exit: What to know about Kolkata fire that killed 9Shikha Inn Hotel is one of several small hotels operating in the same building. The building stands about 50 metres from the West Bengal Fire and Emergency Services department headquarters at 13D Mirza Ghalib Street and within a kilometre of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and the local New Market police station.Four of the Bangladeshi nationals were identified as Debashish Dutta (40), a journalist from Kushtia; his wife, Afsana Shimmin (25); their three-year-old son, Sharnashish Dutta; and the woman’s father, Md Akram Ali (64).Officials at the Bangladesh deputy high commission said Dutta had travelled to Bengaluru for medical treatment. The family checked into the hotel on August 18 after returning from Bengaluru and was supposed to return to Bangladesh on August 19. Bangladeshi media reported that the only survivor in Dutta’s immediate family was his eight-year-old daughter, Pakhi, who did not accompany them to India.The fifth Bangladeshi national was identified as Ahmed Babu from Dhaka.The remaining four deceased persons were Indian nationals. Among them was 23-year-old Sandip Paswan, a Jharkhand resident who worked at one of the hotels in the building.The probe revealed that an electrical short circuit triggered the fire.