Secunderabad Hotel Fire: Police Arrest Lodge Owners, 2 Others; 1 Absconding

Cops said that the accused flouted safety norms by charging e-bike batteries, leading to the incident.

The Secunderabad Market Police on Wednesday 14 September, arrested four out of the five accused, including owners of the Ruby Pride Luxury Hotel, allegedly responsible for a massive fire that broke out at an electronic vehicle (EV) showroom and spread to the hotel, killing eight people and leaving seven injured. 

Chandana Deepthi, DCP, North Zone, Hyderabad, said on Tuesday that a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against the owners of the electric scooter showroom and the manager of the lodge. 

Officials said that there were "about 28 electric bikes, 8 petrol bikes, generators and open batteries which were completely burnt." They claimed that there were four commercial gas cylinders in "leaky conditions," which were installed in the cellar with "connectivity to the kitchen located on the rooftop."

The police identified the accused as: 

• Ranjeeth Singh, owner of Ruby Pride Hotel building 

• Suneet Singh aka Sumith Singh, Ranjeeth Singh's son; helps run the hotel, EV showroom, and two-wheeler finance

• Supreet Singh, Ranjeeth Singh's son; helps run the hotel, EV showroom, and two-wheeler finance 

• Naridla Sudarshan Naidu, manager of Ruby Lodge

• Jaspal Singh Gulat, the cashier at Ruby Electric Scooters

While four of the five accused were arrested, one of them – Supreet Singh – is absconding, the police said.  

The police said that a case was registered under Sections 304(II) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), and Section 9(b) of the Explosives Act. 

They also noted that the accused flouted safety norms by setting up the showroom and charging e-bike batteries, leading to the incident. 

"Absence of all required permissions for the hotel building and e-bike showroom and misuse of parking place are the major lapses for the gruesome incident. The arrested accused persons are being remanded to judicial custody," the police said. 

Officials added that the building's functioning cameras corresponded to the described events, with some pointing to the origin of the fire. They added that smoke first emerged from an e-bike kept for charging, but said that they were awaiting reports from the fire and electricity departments to determine the exact cause of the fire. 

Cause of Death

Hyderabad Police Commissioner CV Anand, who visited the spot, told reporters, "It appears there are 23 rooms on all the four floors in the hotel. The smoke traversed through the staircase from the bottom up to the top floor and completely engulfed all floors."

He added, "Some people who were sleeping on the first and second floors came to the corridor through the thick smoke and died due to asphyxiation."

Telangana Home Minister Mohd Mahmood Ali visited the hotel on Tuesday.

"The ground floor of the building was an electronic vehicle (EV) showroom. There were electronic vehicles parked in the basement for charging. The fire seems to have arisen from here," DCP North Zone, Chandana Deepthi told The Quint.

She added that the owner did not have permission to park or charge the electronic vehicles in the basement of the building.

She added, "The fire is believed to have started there. Probe is on."