A Delhi court on Thursday dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of Lalit Goyal, the co-accused in the January 20 Bawana fire tragedy in which 17 persons were killed.
Additional Sessions Judge Sukhvinder Kaur dismissing his bail plea said, “The allegations against the accused are serious in nature and the matter is at the initial stage of the investigation. Seventeen persons died in the incident. In the facts and circumstances, I do not find it a fit case for grant of anticipatory bail to the applicant/accused at this stage. Hence, the bail application is dismissed.”
Seeking bail earlier, Mr. Goyal’s counsel had submitted that the accused was just a servant and he was neither named in the FIR nor present in the factory at the time of the incident.
Survivors’ statements
Countering the submission, Additional Public Prosecutor and counsel for the victims Rishi Pal Singh separately submitted that two injured survivors had said in their statements recorded before a Metropolitan Magistrate under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code that Mr. Goyal was a partner in the factory and also present at the time of the incident.
Metropolitan Magistrate Jitender Pratap Singh had on Wednesday remanded the main accused in the case Manoj Jain to five days of police custody.
The police have registered the case under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), which provides for imprisonment for life or for 10 years and also a fine.
Besides, the Explosives Act has also been invoked against the accused.
