Delhi Police on Saturday arrested a cook working at a Hauz Rani bed and breakfast facility in connection with the fire that claimed 21 lives earlier this week, and a court later sent him to two days’ custody – although the exact cause of the fire remains in dispute, with the accused’s account to investigators placing the origin in the kitchen while his lawyer told the court the fire was the result of an electrical short circuit elsewhere in the building.
Keshav Negi (65) was arrested on Saturday morning after being arrested on Friday. Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Anant Mittal confirmed his arrest. Police said Negi, who lives in Dilshad Garden in Shahdara, had been working at Flourish Stay B&B in Hauz Rani in Malviya Nagar for over a year.
Mittal said that during interrogation, Negi told police that he was cooking in the kitchen on the ground floor around 8:30 am on Wednesday when he saw a spark in the frying pan, which then caught fire. The official said he escaped from the bed and breakfast without anyone’s help. However, his lawyer told the Saket court that the fire started due to an electrical short circuit and not from the kitchen “as portrayed by the police”.
The pretrial detention order was issued by a district court. Additional public prosecutor Gaurav Shrivastav told the court that Negi – who knew there were many guests at the facility – was the first to escape from the building when the fire broke out, without informing the police or fire service.
A senior police officer, who requested anonymity, said Negi claimed to have called the hotel manager, Rupesh, after leaving the building to inform him of the fire. The claim is verified against his call records. Rupesh and another manager and accountant Jay Mishra – in whose name the B&B’s license was issued – are on the run.
According to the senior officer, Negi revealed that the restaurant in the building – Snacks and Bites – serves a full menu of food items to be cooked and drinks, and has a capacity of 30 people.
Negi’s arrest comes after police arrested Luvkesh Bajaj, owner and beneficiary of Flourish Stay. Both were arrested on charges including culpable homicide not amounting to murder, rash or negligent acts endangering human life, and mischief by fire or explosive materials, at Malviya Nagar police station.
However, the arrests raised questions about whether the investigation was appropriately focusing on the systemic failings that allowed the organization to operate in persistent violation of fire safety and licensing standards, and allowing those who played a critical role in such lapses to exist — rather than people like Negi.
Retired IPS officer Rajan Bhagat, who served as Deputy Commissioner of Police, raised questions about the arrest. “The police have arrested the head chef at the B&B, but how can he be held responsible for his master’s actions? While his negligence should not be ignored if he neglected to raise the alarm. He is the smallest fish in the pond. There is a bigger problem here – a range of violations and a bigger investigation into the crime are needed to make some difference.”
These violations, as the investigation revealed, were widespread. Flourish Stay was running 25 guest rooms – far exceeding the number allowed under its bed and breakfast license – and lacked basic fire safety measures, including a designated fire exit.
Two nearby hotels also linked to Bajaj, Flourish Inn and Green Residency, were similarly operating as full-fledged hotels despite being registered under the bed and breakfast scheme.
