Four dead in Goregaon fire, police arrests three

MUMBAI: The Goregaon police has arrested three persons – the company owner and two labour contractors – allegedly responsible for the death of four persons in a major fire that broke out in Technic Plus One building, Goregaon, Sunday evening. The police made the arrest Monday morning.

The three arrested accused have been identified as Nitin Kothari, owner of Pranaam Enterprises; and two labour contractors - Ramzan Khan and Salim Maniyar. Sources said that the office space earlier belonged to a communications company, which was then confiscated by the Bombay high court.

Vikram Deshmane, deputy commissioner of police (zone 11), said, “The contract for getting the space auctioned and repaired was given to ‘Pranaam Enterprises’ and the contract stated that while repairs were underway, the building will bear no loss or damage. However, after fire broke out due to a suspected short circuit, there was loss of life as well as property.”

According to police sources, the labourers were on the seventh floor of the building carrying out repair works when the fire broke out at 4.30pm on Sunday. The two accused contractors had allegedly sent in the labourers without giving them proper training, which ultimately led to their death.

Dhanaji Nalawade, senior police inspector of Goregaon police station, said, “The arrests were made Monday morning, after fire brigade officials recovered the fourth body from the building. The accused have been booked under sections 304 and 34 which pertain to culpable homicide and common intention, respectively.”

An officer added that prima facie investigation revealed that the deceased persons were contractual labourers deployed by Pranaam Enterprises for repairs, and a short circuit in an electric duct might have caused the fire that resulted in smoke, spreading to several floors of the twelve-storeyed building. However, since the three accused were primarily at fault, they were arrested. The three accused were produced in a local magistrate court on Monday and remanded to judicial custody.