Amid all-round criticism, Bengal Police form SIT to probe fire mishap at Kolkata warehouse 

Kolkata, Jan 31 (IANS) Amid all round-criticisms, the West Bengal Police on Saturday formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the devastating fire at the factory-cum-warehouse of Wow Momo in Anandapur on the southern outskirts of Kolkata earlier this week, where the death toll has already touched 25, with several others still missing. 

The decision came after Union Home Minister Amit Shah during a public rally at Barrackpore in North 24 Parganas district earlier in the day, accused the state police administration of guarding the owner of the Momo Company, since the latter was a close confidant of the topmost ruling party leadership in the state.

Insiders from the state police said that the SIT to probe the mishap will operate under the direct supervision of the superintendent of Baruipur Police District, Shubhendra Kumar, under whose jurisdiction the ill-fated factory-cum-warehouse comes.

Two additional superintendents of Baruipur Police District, the inspector-in-charge of the local Narendrapur Police Station, and the existing investigating officer in the matter will also be part of the SIT.

“Already, three people arrested in the matter are being interrogated by the investigating officials. Now the special team will investigate the matter to file the chargesheet in the matter at the earliest,” a state police official said.

Two of the three arrested persons are Monoranjan Sit and Raja Chakraborty. While Sit is the manager of the factory-cum-warehouse, Chakraborty is the deputy manager of the said outlet. The third arrested person is Gangadhar Das, the owner of the warehouse of Pushpanjali Decorators, which was adjacent to the Wow Momo factory.

On Thursday, the state fire services department and forensic team submitted their preliminary report on the incident, where it was stated that the fire did not originate from the Wow Momo factory, but from the adjacent Pushpanjali decorator's warehouse.

However, Das had vehemently denied the charges and claimed that the fire first spread from the Momo factory.

--IANS

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