Toll in Mumbai fire touches four 

Mumbai

The body of a 21-year-old labourer was found during the rescue operation after a major fire broke out at Techniplex building in Goregaon (West) on Sunday, taking the death toll to four.

A 22-year-old labourer is still missing.

On Monday, the police arrested three people for the fire incident. According to the Goregaon police, a private company Pranam Enterprises owned by Nitin Kothari, 40, was given the work of removing furniture from the seventh and eighth floor in Techniplex building.

“We suspect the fire broke out while the work of removing furniture was going on. We suspect the fire broke out in the duct due to a short circuit,” said a Goregaon police officer.

Kothari and two supervisors Ramzan Khan, 21, and Salim Maniyar, 35, were arrested on the charge of committing culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Senior police inspector, Dhanaji Nalawade of Goregaon police station said, “The company’s work was to remove all the furniture from the seventh floor. We suspect that the fire broke out when the work was going on. The three have been remanded in judicial custody.”

Nine people, including eight fire brigade officials, were injured in the fire.

As per the NGO working for migrant workers, Aajeevika Bureau, 54 workers had been clearing scrap from the seventh floor for the past four days. The seventh floor, where the fire broke out, has two offices and both are unoccupied.

The 11-storey glass façade building, with a basement and two podiums, houses a bank and commercial properties.

“The fire broke out on the seventh floor and it spread to other floors. Fire was confined to electric wiring in electric duct and so the smoke and spread to all floors,” said chief fire officer Prabhat Rahangdale.

Naimuddin Shah, 25, was found on the seventh floor. Later, Ram Avatar, 45 and Ram Tirathpal, 45, were found unconscious in a lift stuck between the fourth and fifth floors. They were declared dead after being rushed to a hospital. The body of the fourth labourer Samsad Shah, 21, was found on Monday morning.

After several similar fire incidents, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in 2013 drafted guidelines for buildings with glass façade. As per the policy, which is yet to be implemented, every floor should have an opening.