3 including hospital COO arrested for fire at Vijayawada COVID Care Centre

Andhra Pradesh police have arrested three people in connection with the fire at the COVID care facility set up at Hotel Swarna Palace in Vijayawada, in which 10 people were killed. The police made the arrests on Monday and produced the three men before the Vijayawada sessions court.  

The Vijayawada Police Commissioner B Srinivasulu told TNM that three persons in connection with the case were taken into custody and produced before the court.

The police arrested Kodali Raja Gopala Rao, the Chief Operating Officer of Ramesh Hospitals Ltd, that had leased Hotel Swarna Palace to operate the COVID-19 care centre. He was the one who had obtained permissions from the Vijayawada District Collector and the District Medical Health Office (DMHO) to start a paid COVID care centre on behalf of Ramesh Hospitals Ltd. 

Dr Kurapati Sudarshan, the general manager and overall in-charge of the hotel, was also arrested.

The night manager of the COVID-19 Care centre, Pallabothu Venkatesh, was the third person who was arrested. The night manager of the paid COVID-19 care centre, Pallabothu Venkatesh, was asleep in the hotel’s restaurant at the time of the accident.

The arrests came a day after a complaint was registered at the Governorpet police station on Sunday by the Mandal Revenue Officer (MRO) of Vijayawada Central, P Jayasri. The complaint named the management of Ramesh Hospital and Hotel Swarna Palace as suspected or accused parties.

The complaint claimed that the authorities of Ramesh Hospitals and Hotel Swarna Palace management knew that there were electrical defects in the hotel building. The complainant alleged that the management was aware that a short circuit fire was possible, but went ahead to set up a COVID-19 care centre in the building without conducting the necessary precautions. The management was also accused of not carrying out repairs as it was expensive.

An FIR had been registered under Sections 304-2 (Punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 308 (Attempt to commit culpable homicide) read with Section 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention).

The fire had broken out in the early hours of Sunday morning at the hotel where COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms were being treated. According to state Health Minister Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas, there were 43 people present at the hotel when the incident occurred, including 30 COVID-19 patients. Of these people, at least 10 patients are believed to have lost their lives. The Minister had added that the remaining 20 patients are being treated in a hospital, and there is no danger to their lives.