Bengal: Last Absconding Accused In Kolkata Hotel Fire Arrested

(MENAFN- IANS) Kolkata, Oct 28 (IANS): Kolkata Police on Wednesday evening informed that their sleuths have arrested Saba Zafar in connection with the devastating fire at Hotel Shikha Inn on Mirza Ghalib Street in central Kolkata, which killed nine people, including a child, on the intervening night of August 18 and 19 this year.

City police insiders said that Zafar and her husband, Abu Zafar, had taken Hotel Shikha Inn on lease from the original owner, Bireshwar Moitra. While Abu Zafar and Moitra were arrested immediately after the tragedy, Saba had been absconding ever since.

Over two months after the incident, she was finally arrested from her hideout in Shibpur, located in the neighbouring Howrah district, a police source said.

Investigations revealed that Saba initially fled to Uttar Pradesh following the incident and had been constantly changing her location to evade arrest.

A senior police official stated that investigating officers were tipped off by informants that Saba had recently relocated to a secret hideout in Shibpur. Acting on the information, officers conducted a raid at the site and apprehended her.

The fire broke out on the third floor of the building housing Hotel Shikha Inn and several other lodges. The hotel rooms quickly filled with thick smoke, causing most of the nine victims to die of suffocation.

The majority of those who lost their lives were Bangladeshi nationals visiting Kolkata for medical treatment.

The original hotel owner, Bireshwar Moitra, initially fled after the incident but was arrested shortly after at his residence in Behala, on Kolkata's southern outskirts.

During interrogation, he disclosed that he had leased the hotel to Abu Zafar and his wife, Saba Zafar, for a monthly rent of Rs 40,000.

While police arrested Abu shortly after, Saba managed to evade capture until her arrest on Wednesday.

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