Kolkata civic engineer held in Taratala warehouse collapse case; total arrests rise to 7

Kolkata: The Kolkata Police arrested a sub-assistant engineer of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) in connection with the collapse of an under-construction three-storey warehouse at Taratala in South Kolkata, killing 16 people in June this year.

Aminur Sheikh, 28, was arrested from his residence in Bansdroni in the southern outskirts of Kolkata on Saturday morning, a police officer said.

With Sheikh's arrest, the number of people arrested in connection with the warehouse collapse has risen to seven.

According to the officer, Sheikh was in charge of the construction in Ward 80 under the KMC. His role in the approval of the construction and related documents is now being examined, while investigators are also trying to ascertain who else was involved in the process.

Five people were arrested immediately after the warehouse collapsed on the afternoon of June 7. They were Gulzar Hussain, supervisor of the implementing agency Ayan Traders; Kamal Samanta, who was in charge of constructing the warehouse's iron structure; Shambhunath Behera, who had taken the land on lease; Dibakar Bhandari, who supplied labour; and Abdul Hamid, who was allegedly involved in the KMC's design approval process.

Later, Kalicharan Banerjee, then officer on special duty (OSD) to former KMC mayor Firhad Hakim, was arrested in connection with the case.

The investigation has found that the under-construction warehouse had received KMC approval without proper inspection, the police said.

Investigators have also identified shortcomings in the structural design of the building.

Questions have also been raised over whether the soil was properly tested before construction began. Investigators are examining how approval was granted without adequate assessment of the soil's bearing capacity and the structure's load-bearing strength.

Structural experts from Jadavpur University were also involved in the investigation as authorities examined the possible technical and procedural lapses that led to the collapse.

The incident had raised questions over the KMC's construction approval and inspection mechanisms, with investigators now focusing on the roles of officials, contractors and others associated with the project. The findings could determine responsibility for the fatal construction failure.

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