kolkata the burrabazar police on tuesday slapped criminal charges against radha bagree and her son varun raj bagree codirectors of bagree estates private limited and the company ceo krishna kumar kotharithe fir has been drawn up based on a fire brigade complaint which cites violations of several sections of the west bengal fire services act 1950 and police general diary entries over the past 72 hours based on these the cops have added section 436 ipc causing mischief by fire a charge which can lead to a decade to a life behind bars if convictedaccording to police sources the scope and ambit of the probe has been extended by adding the ipc charges and focuses not merely on negligence the penal offences are nonbailable police have already launched a manhunt for radha and varun raj who have reportedly left their ballygunge place home for an undisclosed location on sunday several teams of investigators are working round the clock to track thempolice sources said prima facie theyve identified a dala or a makeshift illegal stall between block c and a to be the seat of fire this is adjacent to an electric pole which itself is right next to a cesc electrical feeder boxthe cops identified it after questioning locals who first witnessed the fire among them is pranav rathore who first called the fire brigade for help together they have indicated that same place where they saw the blaze first police however are awaiting a final opinion from the forensic experts who examined the placeaccording to a trader whose shop was among the first to be burnt they used to sit on the pavement right opposite us i am scared these are influential people and they have been clogging the pavement for years now the trader who requested anonymity suspects that flames from these dalasleapt into his shopinvestigators suggest a metiabruz local shah jahan had rented out this dalato one ranjit alias raju raju stocked deodorants perfumes soft toys and plastic flowers right next to raju shah jahan had rented out another dala to a person identified as alam the latter a known face in the neighbourhood has been doing business on the pavement for around a decade raju and alam could not be traced police said they would be speaking to shah jahanan investigator said the case of negligence is clearly made out the firemen disaster management group special police teams and forensic experts will vindicate how fire norms were flouted nothing worked there the reservoirs hydrants and even sprinklers accessing the top floors were dangerous the traders will also provide in writing the repeated appeals they made and the amounts they paid to set up a firefighting system and to apply for a fire noc it however is not yet clear whether the negligence was deliberate we will probe that aspectpolice said they also have taken legal help to oppose any anticipatory bail move the cops anticipate that the fir named persons may move calcutta high