The Nayapalli police here on Thursday questioned three senior executives of the Hotel Trident in connection with the prolonged stay of Deccan Chronicle Group vice-chairman PK Iyer in the hotel under a fake name.
They were identified as Hotel Trident HR head Bauribandhu Padhi, corporate security in-charge (all India) R Verma and housekeeping in-charge Manjit Kaur. The police had earlier served notices on these officials for interrogation.
However, Trident general manager Abhimanyu lodha, who was also served a notice for questioning, did not turn up. He sent his counsel instead.
The counsel told the police that his client would not be able to attend the summons, and sought ten days’ time. But, the police insisted on lodha’s attendance at the PS as he had given his consent to attend, said police sources.
Sources added that Trident executives are being interrogated on why they did not inform the police of Iyer’s stay in the hotel though he was staying with a woman’s name, Chitra Athwani. They are also being questioned on why they did not submit the occupancy chart of the hotel to the police on a daily basis as required under the law.
Iyer was arrested from the Hotel Trident by the Commissionerate Police in the wee hours of June 7 in connection with Rs 357-crore bank loan fraud case.
Iyer was living in Room No 220 of the hotel allegedly under the the name of Chitra Athwani for close to two months. He had also allegedly stayed in disguise in Kolkata and Port Blair before coming to Bhubaneswar.
The Commissionerate Police had registered a case against the hotel on June 7 and has charged it with harbouring a criminal and making a criminal conspiracy.
Bhubaneswar Deputy Commissioner of Police Satyabrata Bhoi had on June 7 said that a case had been registered against the hotel authorities and against Iyer.
However, the hotel authorities on June 9 clarified that they were not aware that Iyer was wanted by the CBI, and said they would cooperate with the police in their investigations.
“PK Iyer was an esteemed regular customer of our hotel. We had no knowledge that he was wanted by the CBI. He had checked in with a woman relative of his. The room was booked in her name. We will cooperate in the process of investigation,” the hotel authorities had said in a statement.
The Commissionerate Police launched its investigation on June 9 by examining some documents of the hotel and interrogating a few staffs.c