Bhubaneswar hospital fire: Owner of SUM Hospital Manoj Nayak arrested

Chairman of SUM Hospital Manoj Nayak was arrested after he surrendered before the Odisha Police around 3:30 am on Thursday. Over 20 people had died, while dozens were injured in a massive fire that broke out at the hospital in Bhubaneswar on Monday.

The police is now looking for Nayak's wife Saraswati to arrest her. They had previously arrested four people in connection with the mishap -- medical superintendent Pusparaj Samantasinghar, former executive engineer Amulya Kumar Sahu (electrical maintenance), fire safety officer Santosh Das and retired junior engineer Malay Kumar Sahu (electrical maintenance).

Nayak and his wife were issued a notice by the police not to go out of the country. The Odisha government had also registered a couple of FIRs against the management of the hospital accusing them of neglecting fire safety terms and delaying the evacuation of patients during the incident. The complaints were filed by the Directorate of Fire Services (DFS) and Director of Medical Education and Training (DMET).

The police are interrogating Nayak in connection with the fire incident as well as the protocols that were violated by the hospital.

The cops had raided Nayak's office on Wednesday night and seized several important documents. But when they went to raid his house at Dharma Vihar, the cops found it locked while Nayak's phone was switched off, the Deccan Chronicle reported.

The daily quoted sources as saying that the number of arrests could increase considering the sequence of events and the ongoing investigations.