Hotel lease-holder arrested, two detained after Kolkata hotel inferno kills nine
Of the nine, five are Bangladeshi nationals and one each from Bihar and West Bengal; two victims are yet to be indentified; the hotel’s owner, Bireshwar Mitra, is still absconding, said police.
Kolkata police arrested the lease holder of the hotel, Hotel Shikha Inn, located on Mirza Ghalib Street, following a massive fire that killed nine people, including several Bangladeshi nationals. The fire erupted around 2 a.m. on August 19, 2026, inside the second-floor building of the Florence Mansion in the New Market Police Station area.
Detective authorities apprehended Abu Zafar, the lease holder, and transferred him from the Entally main market area. Two other individuals, a Shikha Inn staff member and the manager of Jaapon Hotel, also shared the same building, were detained for questioning. Around 60 people were rescued from the five-storey hotel, mainly occupied by Bangladeshi nationals visiting the city.
Of the deceased, five were Bangladeshi nationals, two were from Siliguri, West Bengal, and Bihar, and two victims remain unidentified. The Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata established a helpline for families affected by the tragedy. Authorities have formed a special investigation team to probe the incident, and the hotel owner remains at large.
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