EC to look into Trinamool Congress complaint about Mamata Banerjee's hotel room fire

The Election Commission is looking into the complaint lodged by Trinamool Congress against the poll panel for failing to ensure West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's safety and security after a fire broke out in her hotel room, an official said Friday. 

"We have forwarded the complaint to the Commission in Delhi. They are considering it and after that they will take a decision," the state's assistant chief electoral officer Amitjyoti Bhattacharya told reporters here. Banerjee narrowly escaped the fire Thursday evening in her hotel room in Malda district. The Trinamool supremo was in her room in the private hotel in Malda town after campaigning when the AC caught fire, throwing out thick smoke and soot.

Sports Minister Madan Mitra said "poisonous fumes were released in the CM's room in pursuance of a conspiracy", while party general secretary Mukul Roy shot off a letter to the Election Commission crying foul over the incident. In his letter to Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath and state chief electoral officer Sunil Kumar Gupta, Roy alleged that a "deep, devoius conspiracy" could not be ruled out.

"Safety norms and procedures were completely disregarded by the administrative machinery under your control. This incident could have had fatal, disastrous consequences with repercussions in West Bengal and the entire nation. One cannot rule out a deep, devious conspiracy behind the incident," he said in his letter.

Police have initiated a probe into the matter and a forensic team examined the room and collected samples.