Two directors of Virar-based Vijay Vallabh Hospital, where 15 COVID patients died of asphyxiation in a pre-dawn fire on Friday, were arrested on Sunday as the hospital failed to get its fire safety audit done and its fire NOC had expired in March.
The arrested accused, Managing Director and CEO Dr. Dilip Shah and Chief Administrative Officer Dr. Shailesh Pathak, were produced before the holiday court and remanded in a day’s police custody.
A senior police officer told a publication that the hospital never got its fire risk audit report in place to secure an NOC from the fire department.
While Dr Shah and Dr Pathak are partners of the hospital, Dr. Shah’s father Bastimal Shah, is the third partner.
He accused the police of illegally detaining the two doctors on the hospital premises.
“The police told my son (Dr. Shah) and Dr. Pathak not to leave the premises and they were kept under illegal detention,” Bastimal said. “Both of them are doctors but they were treated like criminals. After the tragic incident, the hospital is in a messy condition yet both doctors were forced to stay inside the premises where mosquitoes have been a great nuisance. I arranged a mosquito net for him,” Bastimal added.
“With the air-conditioning closed, they were forced to stay in the heat and did not get sound sleep,” Bastimal added. “Police mentally harassed them before arresting them on Sunday. My house is hardly a few minutes away from the hospital, the police could have allowed Dr Shah to stay there,” Bastimal said.
Surjitt Sahani
