Karol Bagh hotel owner arrested 5 days after fire

Rakesh Goel was in Qatar to attend a wedding. As soon as he boarded an Indigo flight to arrive in Delhi, we alerted the immigration officials RAJESH DEO, DCP (crime branch)

NEWDELHI: The Delhi Police have arrested the owner a Karol Bagh hotel where 17 people were recently killed in a fire that revealed several safety violations and prompted inspections at similar guest houses in the congested area, an official said on Sunday.

Hotel Arpit Palace owner Rakesh Goel was arrested late on Saturday after he returned from Qatar, four days after the major fire.

The 63-year-old was sent to two days in police custody by a Delhi court on Sunday.

“We will be questioning him about the building, licences, entries made in registers and violations. Our line of questioning won’t be about the fire incident, since he wasn’t there on the day of the blaze,” said Rajesh Deo, deputy commissioner of police (crime branch).

Goel is the owner of the hotel while his younger brother, Shardendu Goel, is the licencee of the five-storey hotel, said DCP Deo.

“Shardendu remains on the run. He is in India and we hope to arrest him soon,” said Deo.

The fire was reported around 4.30am last Tuesday. When the fire broke out, the hotel was housing 60 guests in 35 of the 46 rooms.

About a dozen staffers were also present in the hotel at the time.

Out of the 17 people who died in the fire, two died after they jumped off the roof of the hotel to escape the flames.