Overview
- Two people died and three others were hospitalized after a fire Tuesday at a leather unit inside a multi-storey building on GJ Khan Road in Tiljala, where workers trapped by smoke tried to shelter in a bathroom.
- An inquiry ordered within hours found the factory had no sanctioned building plan or basic fire and electrical safeguards, prompting an FIR and the arrest of owners identified in reports as Sheikh Nasir and Shamim or Samir Mohammad.
- Bulldozers moved in Wednesday to tear down the illegal structure as the government told power utility CESC to cut electricity to factories without approved plans and asked the civic body to sever water lines in Tiljala, Kasba, Mominpur and Ekbalpur.
- Investigators say faulty or overloaded wiring is a likely trigger for the blaze, and a forensic examination is underway to confirm whether a short circuit or related electrical failure started the fire.
- On Thursday, fire services suspended station officer Gautam Das for alleged lapses in the response while demolition continued at the site and widened to other illegal structures, including a clock tower in Garia and a party office flagged as unauthorized.