A day after nine people were killed in a massive fire at the Eastern Railway headquarters on Strand Road, the Kolkata Police on Tuesday lodged an FIR against “the responsible authority/person(s)”. The police also set up a seven-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the incident.
The police’s announcements came even as a team of forensic experts examined the building and said prima facie the fire appears to have occurred because of “overload of power” and “malfunction of electricity”.
“On the incident of fire, a case has filed at the Hare Street police station. The FIR has been registered under IPC Section 304A (causing death by negligence) and Sec 11J and 11L of the West Bengal Fire Services Act. The Detective Department will conduct the investigation,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Murlidhar said.
The police inquiry will be conducted in parallel with a high-level probe ordered by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal. Principal Chief Safety Officer Dr Jaideep Gupta will head the inquiry panel. The other members of the committee are Principal Chief Signal and Telecommunication Engineer Ajay Kumar, Inspector General-cum-Principal Chief Security Commissioner AN Mishra and Principal Chief Electrical Engineer VB Vishwakarma.