Three members of Indian-origin Ragoobeer family, which had moved to the UK from Mauritius, were among five people killed in the fire on Sunday evening that tore through a Polish shop on the ground floor and two-storeys of flats above.
Leicestershire Police said the three men arrested yesterday are all in their 30s and investigators are currently questioning them in connection with the fire.
In the interests of the ongoing investigation, and out of respect for the families of those missing feared dead, and those who were injured in the explosion and fire, we request that the media and public resist speculating about the identities of those arrested, the circumstances that may have led to their arrest and the cause of the explosion, it added.
Cafe worker Mary Ragoobeer, 46, and her sons Shane, 18, and Sean, 16, were in their flat, above a Polish store called Zabka at the time of an explosion which was followed by a massive blaze that reduced the entire building to rubble. Shanes girlfriend, Leah Reek, 18, and 22-year-old shopworker Viktorija Ijevleva, were also within the premises at the time.
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Mary's husband, Jose Ragoobeer, a care worker, was not in the building at the time and their other son, 15-year-old Scotty, was reportedly pulled from the rubble by a passer-by and taken to hospital.
We are devastated. It is an awful situation. We are a very close family, a family member said.
We should commend the actions and the work of the emergency services who day in, day out, do so much for all of us, but in circumstances like that really showed the great job that they do in dealing with that issue," she said.
Liz Kendall MP, in whose constituency the explosion occurred, told Parliament that the explosion had been a terrible shock to the local community.
Prayers have been said for all those affected by the tragedy at the school attended by Sean Ragoobeer. The head of the English Martyrs Catholic School in Leicester, Marius Carney, described Sean as a highly-committed student andin letters to parents, she said the school had held Masses for all those caught up in the tragedy and prayed for the emergency services.
Mary Ragoobeer worked at the King Richard III Visitor Centre in Leicester, where she was described as a popular member of the cafe team for the past two years.