New Delhi, Sept. 12 -- The Kolkata Police Special Investigation Team (SIT) has arrested a sub-assistant engineer of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation's (KMC) Building Department in connection with the collapse of an under-construction tea warehouse at Taratala that killed 16 people on June 24, taking the number of arrests in the case to seven.
Aminur Sheikh, 28, was arrested from an apartment in Bansdroni in south Kolkata on Friday night. He was responsible for building-related matters in Ward 80 under Borough IX, where the warehouse was being constructed. The SIT is examining his role in the civic approval process and the related documents.
The arrest triggered a protest by engineers of the KMC Building Department, who staged a sit-in outside the office of Director General (Building) Ujjal Kumar Biswas. Sub-assistant and assistant engineers said they would not resume work until Sheikh was granted bail.
The arrest comes as the investigation focuses on how the warehouse received civic approval and whether its construction adhered to the sanctioned plan. Investigators are also examining possible lapses in the design, soil testing and construction.
The warehouse, spread over nearly 20,000 sq ft, had been under construction for around one-and-a-half years before it collapsed. The building plan had been approved by the KMC, and the Lalbazar SIT is examining the role of civic officials involved in the approval process.
Earlier, the SIT had arrested six people, including Kalicharan Banerjee, a former Officer on Special Duty to the former KMC mayor Firhad Hakim.
The other five accused include the land lessee, a supervisor, an iron-structure fabricator, a labour supplier, and an alleged broker involved in obtaining the KMC-sanctioned building plan.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.