Lucknow hotel fire: Non-bailable warrant against owners

LUCKNOW: Police have obtained a

non-bailable warrant

against the owners of the two hotels in

Charbagh

that were gutted on Tuesday, killing six people. Both have been absconding since.

An official also said that both owners were distantly related and are cousins.

Surendra Jaiswal

of SSJ International Hotel and Arpit Jaiswal of

Viraat Hotel International

have been booked along with other unidentified employees for causing death due to negligence, negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter and causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others.

Raj Kumar, a guard at

SSJ Hotel

and Pankaj Singh, a supervisor at Viraat Hotel, were arrested on June 20. “They disclosed that both owners were present on the spot when the fire broke out,” said Parshuram Singh, SHO Naka.

According to police, Kumar said that soon after he saw flames in the basement of SSJ Hotel, he ran to wake up his supervisor who alerted Surendra. But Surendra told them to flee and since then, his phone is switched off.

Talking about Viraat Hotel, Singh said he was on the first floor when fire broke out and called his owner Arpit many times but got no response. When the fire had engulfed the lower portion, Arpit asked everyone to leave, he added.

Police visited homes of both owners but said the family members claimed to know nothing about their whereabouts.