Jan 27, 2009, 4:52 GMT
Bangkok - Thai police on Tuesday charged the lead singer of a rock band as the prime suspect in starting the fire at the Santika pub on New Year's Day that killed 66 people and left more than 200 injured.
Salawudh Arriya was arrested Monday night while performing at a Bangkok pub with 'Burn,' a popular Thai rock band that was on stage at Santika on the night of the fire.
'Salawudh is our chief suspect because many eyewitnesses said they saw him setting off a firecracker on the night of the fire,' said Police General Jongbak Juthanon, deputy police commissioner.
Salawudh has denied guilt and vowed to fight the charges in court.
The fire at the two-storey Santika pub quickly raged through the premises shortly after midnight, killing 59 people on New Year's Day and injuring more than 200, seven of whom died later in hospital.
The New Year's tragedy has raised questions about Bangkok's lax safety regulations at entertainment venues, many of which flaunt the laws with the complicity of the police.
A Justice Ministry panel investigating the accident revealed that police stopped raiding the Santika soon after Police Colonel Prayont Lasua, deputy chief of the Crime Suppression Dvision, became a shareholder in the pub on September 17, 2006, the Bangkok Post reported.
Jongbak ordered the Crime Suppression Division to investigate the accusation.
'If he (Prayont) is found guilty he will be punished by the law,' Jongbak told reporters.
Six pub executives have so far been arrested and charged with operating the Santika without a licence and selling alcohol to minors.
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