Kolkata, Oct 28: Kolkata Police on Wednesday evening arrested Saba Zafar, described by police as the last absconding accused in the Hotel Shikha Inn fire case, more than two months after the blaze on Mirza Ghalib Street in central Kolkata killed nine people, including a child, on the intervening night of August 18 and 19, IANS reported. Nation Press also reported the arrest on Wednesday.

Source: IANS via hi INDiA

City police insiders said Saba Zafar and her husband, Abu Zafar, had taken Hotel Shikha Inn on lease from the original owner, Bireshwar Moitra. While Abu Zafar and Moitra were arrested soon after the tragedy, Saba Zafar had been absconding ever since, a police source said.

Source: Nation Press — Kolkata

Investigators said Saba Zafar initially fled to Uttar Pradesh after the incident and kept changing her location to evade arrest. A senior police official said officers were tipped off by informants that she had recently moved to a hideout in Shibpur, in the neighbouring Howrah district, and a police team raided the place and apprehended her.

The fire had broken out on the third floor of the building housing Hotel Shikha Inn and several other lodges. The hotel rooms quickly filled with thick smoke, and most of the nine victims died of suffocation. The majority of those killed were Bangladeshi nationals who were visiting Kolkata for medical treatment, the reports said.

Moitra had initially fled after the incident but was arrested shortly afterwards at his residence in Behala, on Kolkata's southern outskirts. Police said that during interrogation he disclosed that he had leased the hotel to Abu Zafar and his wife, Saba Zafar, for a monthly rent of Rs 40,000. Saba Zafar is an accused in the case and the investigation is continuing; the allegations against her have not been proved in court.