Chennai: The Kurangani forest fire toll rose to 21 on Monday, after a Chennai based victim Bhargavi (23) passed away due to infections at a corporate hospital in Chennai. The victim suffered 73 per cent burns and was on the ventilator for more than a week, informed sources said.
The prime accused Peter Van Geit, of Chennai Trekking Club, a Belgian national settled in India, is still missing from the police radar.
Meanwhile, the one man commission constituted by the state government to probe Kurangani fire tragedy intensified its investigation with local foresters and the public in Theni. The state officials also opened a dedicated office at Bodi municipality, where the public and the local villagers can share the information related to the Kurangani incident.
According to forest department sources, revenue secretary Atulya Mishra, who is also the special officer probing the Kurangani tragedy, had so far heard 73 people in connection with the accident.
As many as 21 forest department staff and 33 government staff including police and revenue department staff had been summoned by the commission. The special officer has also registered the submissions from 16 members of public and will be conducting inquiry with the survivors of the Kurangani fire accident.
The families who have lost their dear ones in the fire accident are also to be heard.
