Flourish Stay owner sent to 4-day police custody; MCD finds 12 nearby B&Bs violating their permits

Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription

The View From India Looking at World Affairs from the Indian perspective.

First Day First Show News and reviews from the world of cinema and streaming.

Today's Cache Your download of the top 5 technology stories of the day.

Data Point Decoding the headlines with facts, figures, and numbers

Health Matters Ramya Kannan writes to you on getting to good health, and staying there

The Hindu On Books Books of the week, reviews, excerpts, new titles and features.

A scene outside the Post-mortem and Embalming Wing at AIIMS, in New Delhi on Thursday (June 4, 2026). | Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma

A day after a major fire left 21 people dead at the Flourish Stay B&B in Delhi’s Malviya Nagar, the building’s owner Lavkesh Bajaj was remanded to four days of police custody by a district court on Thursday, on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, among others. Mr. Bajaj’s manager Rakesh and his accountant Jay Mishra — in whose name the B&B license was issued — are still absconding, the Delhi police said.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has identified 12 other bed and breakfast (B&B) lodgings in the area which were operating in violation of their permits from the Delhi Tourism Department, offering accomodation far in excess of the permitted six rooms. The Delhi government says it will seal all unauthorised constructions and buildings operating without fire safety equipment as part of a month-long crackdown.

In the case of Flourish Stay B&B, it had an illegal 24 rooms spead across six floors, apart from a restaurant on the ground floor, which also did not have the necessary licence. The B&B was being run without any fire No Objection Certificate (NOC), and was misusing the permits issued by the State tourism department, the police said.

The Hauz Rani area of Malviya Nagar, where the tragedy occurred, is a medical tourism hub and has a large number of hotels providing accomodation for patients at the nearby Max hospital and their caretakers. Twelve of those killed in the blaze were foreign nationals, hailing from Congo, Mozambique, Liberia, and Bangladesh, and their bodies were handed over to their respective embassies on Thursday.

At least 13 international patients injured in the blaze are still admitted at Max Saket, along with two Indians who were also injured. Six patients are on ventilator support, while nine patients have been admitted to the ICUs and wards, the hospital said in a statement. One patient was discharge