Kolkata, Aug 17 (IANS) The death toll in the hotel fire at Tarapith in West Bengal's Birbhum district on Monday rose to seven, confirmed the police, adding that the owner of the building has been arrested.

Birbhum District Police Superintendent Vidit Raj Bundesh confirmed that the toll has risen and that Kalyan Paul, the owner of the hotel named 'Bideshini', has been arrested.

The police are investigating whether the hotel's firefighting system was in proper condition and whether all the fire safety-related rules were followed.

Many residents of the hotel have complained that an exit door at the back side of the hotel was closed, and hence they were unable to get out, which is in contradiction to what Paul had claimed earlier this morning.

Paul claimed that because of extreme panic, many of the residents could not trace the exit door at the back side of the hotel and hence they tried to rush out through the reception, and that is when many got burnt.

The investigating officer is also investigating these claims by the residents and counterclaims by Paul.

The fire broke out at the hotel adjacent to Tarapith Police Station at around 5 a.m. on Monday. The initial estimate of the fire department is that the fire was caused by a short circuit. Smoke rose to the fifth floor. Fortunately, the fire was restricted to the first floor and partially to the second floor, which limited the number of casualties.

So far, seven people have been reported to have died in the incident. All of them were pilgrims. They had gone to Tarapith from different districts to perform puja on the third Monday of the holy month of Shravan.

After the fire was extinguished, the injured were rescued from the hotel and taken to Rampurhat Government Medical College and Hospital. Two of them are still undergoing treatment there. A total of 22 people were rescued from the hotel by the police and fire department.

Nine of them were unconscious. Many of the injured have been discharged after primary treatment. Two are still undergoing treatment in the hospital. The rest are totally out of danger.

The police officials have confirmed that the hotel had a fire-extinguishing system and, as per rule, there were arrangements for two separate staircases within the hotel building.

“But since the staircase windows were closed, the smoke could not escape. Therefore, many people fell ill due to the smoke. For now, we have arrested Paul and taken him to the police station. He is being questioned,” confirmed a district police officer.

--IANS

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