‘Kali’ not cooperating with investigation, two phones seized from residence, says police

Days after the arrest of former Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim’s then Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Kalicharan Banerjee over the Taratala warhouse case, police sources have now indicated that he is not cooperating with the investigators.

Sources claim that Banerjee has not yet given away the name of the person on whose instructions he had allegedly got the faulty business plan of the Taratala warehouse sanctioned at the .

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Meanwhile two mobile phones and several documents were seized from Banerjee’s residence with the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Kolkata Police currently examining all the records.

While the cops have sought all official documents pertaining to the Taratala warehouse from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, it has not yet reached the investigators.

The SIT also conducted a search at the offices of Behera Brothers, the company that had taken the Kolkata Port land on lease to build the warehouse. Investigators seized several documents from the place which would indicate the duration of the contract with Ayan Traders, the firm involved in constructing the warehouse roof.

Police sources have also claimed that Shambhunath Behera, the head of Behera Brothers, is not cooperating with the investigation.

Moreover, investigators have learnt that the arrested middleman Abdul Hamid, in charge of securing building plan approvals from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, had accepted a substantial sum of money. However, sources indicate that Hamid is refusing to disclose exactly how much he charged to get the project plan approved.

In addition to these revelations, it has not yet been ascertained whether a soil test was conducted before starting the construction work. Sources say that a letter has been sent to the Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port authorities to ascertain the findings of the soil report.

Additionally, investigators are also trying to find out why the third-floor casting was ongoing, without completing the casting for the second-floor.

Sources indicate that a total of five individuals have been interrogated in connection with the warehouse collapse incident, one of whom is a municipal official who works in the License Department.

The roof of an under-construction tea warehouse in Taratala gave in on Wednesday, leading to a huge pile of debris, leaving 17 dead as rescue operation continued for days.