Dreams Mall fire: Hosp group’s executive, fire agency staffer held

MUMBA: i Bhandup police have arrested two persons in connection with the March 25 HDIL Dreams Mall fire case. A massive fire broke out on the first floor of the Bhandup mall late at night, which spread to the third floor, housing Sunrise Hospital, resulting in the death of 11 Covid-19 patients.

Police officers said that during the course of investigation, they found that George Puthhu Seri, the chief executive officer of Privilege Healthcare (which owns Sunrise Hospital), had in connivance with Haresh Dayalal Joshi of fire safety inspection firm Pona Corporation, had obtained a fire NOC (no-objection certificate) for the mall by certifying that its fire safety system was functional, despite the fact that it was not working.

Assistant commissioner of police Priya Dhakane of

Bhandup division said that Seri and Joshi were arrested on Thursday. A metropolitan magistrate court at Mulund remanded them in police custody till May 10. “During investigation, we learnt that the water pumps and smoke detectors were not functional at the mall. Pona Corporation is a BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation)-authorised licenced agency, which claimed to have tested the fire-fighting system in the mall and submitted bogus fitness certificate. Based on it, the fire department issued an NOC to the mall, said Dhakane. Bhandup police have also booked several people, including HDIL directors Rakeshkumar Wadhawan and his son Sarang, Nikita Amitsingh Trehan and Deepak Shirke, as well as Amitsingh Trehan and Sweetie Jain who are the directors of Privilege Health Care Services Private Limited, for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.