Forged papers used to get licences, says police charge sheet

POLICE SAID THIS WAS AMONG THE VARIOUS FORGERIES THEY HAD COMMITTED TO OBTAIN NECESSARY LICENSES REQUIRED TO RUN HOTEL ARPIT PALACE

NEWDELHI: The two brothers who own Hotel Arpit Palace, where 17 guests were killed when a fire had broken out on February 12, had used fake documents to obtain the no objection certificate (NOC) from the fire department, Delhi police said in a charge sheet filed in a city court on Tuesday.

Police said this was among the various forgeries they had committed to obtain necessary licenses required to run the hotel.

In their charge sheet, police said the duo had forged signatures to renew the hotel’s licence. Delhi Police has named the two brothers – Rakesh Goel and Sharad Indu Goel, their general manager Rajender Kumar and duty manager Vikas Kumar as the accused. Police have accused the four men of forging a number of documents for procuring the Health Trade License (HTL) and for obtaining the NOC from the fire department. It also holds the four men responsible for negligence and for not ensuring availability of adequate fire fighting system in the hotel.

On February 12, a suspected short-circuit in the air conditioner installed inside a room on the first floor of the hotel sparked a fire that spread across five floors of Hotel Arpit Palace, trapping the majority of the 60 guests inside their rooms.

While at least 30 were rescued by firefighters, 17 succumbed to the burns or died of asphyxiation.

In the 42-page preliminary charge sheet filed in Tis Hazari Court, the Delhi police have booked the four men for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, attempt to commit culpable homicide, cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property, forgery of valuable security, forgery for purpose of cheating, using forged documents as genuine, causing disappearance of evidences of offence, punishment of criminal conspiracy and act done by several people in furtherance of common intention under various sections of the Indian Panel Code. An officer said that the charge sheet states that the Goel brothers had used forged documents for obtaining Health Trade Licence from the Public Health Department.

It also states they had used a fake structural stability certificate. “The height of the building was 17.5 meters up to the fifth floor which was a violation of the building bylaws. The charge sheet also mentions that a rooftop restaurant that was being run in the hotel was illegal. The licence of Hotel Arpit Palace was issued in the name of Sharad Indu Goel and his brother Rakesh is the owner. It has also emerged that some documents were forged to renew the license of the hotel,” the officer said.