Bhandup Police booked six people for culpable homicide in the case of a fire outbreak at Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) Dreams Mall, on the top floor of which was Sunrise Hospital being used as a Covid-19 facility.
“Rakesh Wadhawan, Nikita Amit Singh Trehan, Sarang Wadhawan and Deepak Shirke, who are directors of the mall, and Amit Singh Trehan and Sweety Jain, who are directors of the hospital are named in the FIR,” said a police official. Management of Dreams Mall has been named in the FIR under IPC sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 34 (common intention).
The official at the police station informed that Nikita Tehran is also a director of the Hospital. “During the probe conducted so far, police found several lapses at the mall. There is mismanagement in terms of security and the fire safety equipment was not checked on time,” he added. Due to suffocation as a result of the fire, 11 Covid-19 patients who were undergoing treatment at the hospital have died.
BMC Commissioner Iqbal Chahal requested Prabhat Rahangdale, the Deputy Municipal Commissioner (DMC) of Disaster Management to conduct an inquiry into the incident within 15 days to find the cause of the fire in consultation with the Chief Fire Officer and fix up the responsibility of the concerned officers regarding illegality in the structure if any.
In another incident late on Friday night of 26 March 2021, a huge fire broke out at Fashion Street on MG road in Pune. 11 fire tenders were rushed to the fire spot by the fire department. 500 shops on the fashion street were charred to ashes in the fire. 50 firefighters, 16 fire tenders, and 10 other officials doused the fire.