Interior Decorator Arrested: Key Suspect in Kolkata Hotel Inferno

A massive fire at the Rituraj Hotel in Kolkata claimed 14 lives. Police have arrested a total of three individuals, including the owner, manager, and an interior decorator, Lhurshid Alam. The blaze was allegedly exacerbated by flouted safety rules and inflammable materials used during construction.

On Friday, law enforcement officials took another significant step in the investigation of the devastating fire at a Kolkata hotel that claimed 14 lives. The accused, Lhurshid Alam, an interior decorator by profession, was apprehended from his residence in Park Circus.

This recent arrest brings the total number of individuals detained in connection with the tragic incident to three. Authorities believe Alam's negligence during interior decoration works, compounded by the use of inflammable materials, played a critical role in spreading the fire.

Earlier, the police had detained the owner and manager of Rituraj Hotel, following the blaze that ravaged the six-storey property at Mechhua Falpatti in Burrabazar. The fire service officials have recovered 13 bodies from the site, and another victim later succumbed to injuries, raising the death toll to 14.

(With inputs from agencies.)