Kolkata, August 23, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Bireswar Mitra, owner of Hotel Shikha Inn in Kolkata where a fire killed nine people last week, has been arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Kolkata Police to investigate the incident.
The fire broke out during the intervening night of August 18 and 19. Mitra was taken into custody after investigators traced him to his residence in Behala in the southern outskirts of Kolkata on Saturday.
Although Mitra owns the hotel, he had reportedly leased it to Abu Zafar on a monthly payment arrangement of Rs 40,000. Zafar was arrested on Wednesday afternoon, following which Mitra went absconding.
SIT investigators had searched for Mitra at Digha and Mandarmani in East Midnapore district over the past two days. He owns two hotels in the two coastal locations, but investigators could not trace him there.
According to a Kolkata Police source, the SIT received information that Mitra might return to his Behala residence on Saturday. Plainclothes personnel were subsequently deployed near the house and arrested him when he arrived.
During initial questioning, Mitra reportedly told investigators that he had travelled to Dhanbad in neighbouring Jharkhand on Wednesday morning after learning about the fire.
Police are examining why Mitra chose to return to Kolkata despite the possibility of arrest. Investigators are also questioning him to establish the circumstances surrounding the fire and determine whether there were other factors linked to the incident.
A police source said debit restrictions had been placed on both of Mitra’s bank accounts after he went missing. Investigators are also examining whether his financial circumstances influenced his decision to return.
“There is a possibility that since his source of funds were choked, he was left with no other option to come back to his home at Behala. Some of his hotel employees are Dhanbad-based. Probably escaped there to seek assistance from them. All these will be clear after thorough interrogation,” the source said.
Mitra is expected to be produced before a lower court in Kolkata, where the public prosecutor will seek his police custody.
Of the nine people who died in the fire, seven were residents of Bangladesh, one was from Giridih in Jharkhand and one was from Siliguri in West Bengal’s Darjeeling district. The deceased comprised six men, two women and a three-year-old child.
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