Three days after a fire in Bhubaneswar’s SUM hospital killed 21 of its patients, its owner Manoj Ranjan Nayak was on Thursday arrested by city police after he surrendered before Khandagiri police station.

The Bhubaneswar police on Wednesday issued a lookout circular against Manoj Nayak, chairman of the trust running the SUM hospital, as well as his wife Saswati.

“He surrendered in the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday. He is being interrogated after arrest,” Khurania told media persons. However, there was immediate confirmation about detention of his wife Saswati Das against whom the police also issued look out notice.

On Tuesday, the Khandagiri police arrested four employees of SUM Hospital, including its superintendent a day after the devastating fire+ on its premises killed 21 patients.

In the FIR, the complainant Brajendu Bhusan Das (fire officer, central range) highlighted that the hospital’s owner (though name not mentioned) was intimated about shortcomings in fire prevention measures.

“After the 2013 fire safety audit at SUM hospital, several shortcomings were noticed and intimated to the hospital authority for compliance. This was intimated to the planning member of Bhubaneswar Development Authority with a copy marked to the owner of SUM hospital,” the FIR copy read. “The fire tragedy of such a magnitude occurred entirely due to the negligence on the part of the hospital for failing to install the recommended safety measures,” the FIR said.

Nayak is likely to be in more trouble with the SIT of black money directing the Enforcement Directorate to look into the trust’s financial transactions over the years.