Mundaka fire case: Building owner Manish gets bail after 10 months of custody
Mar 20, 2023
New Delhi [India], March 20 : Delhi's Tis Hazari court has granted bail to Manish Lakra, who is accused in the Mundaka building fire case, after a period of custody of ten months.
He is the owner of the building where the fire incident took place on 13 May 2022 in which, 27 people died and many were injured. Lakra was arrested on May 15, 2022.
Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Hem Raj on Saturday granted default bail to Lakra subject to furnishing a personal bond of Rs. One lakh and two sureties in the like amount.
The court has imposed some conditions to ensure his presence during the trial.
The High Court on March 14, directed the trial court to decide expeditiously the bail plea of Manish Lakra.
Justice Yogesh Khanna directed the trial court to decide the default bail plea of Lakra in view of the order passed by the coordinate bench.
The bench headed by Justice Amit Mahajan had granted default bail to Harish and Varun Goyal in the matter.
Their plea seeking default bail, over non-filing of the charge sheet in 60 days, was dismissed by the sessions court. They had challenged the order before the High court.
However, the default bail plea of Lakra was pending before the sessions court.
Advocate Pradeep Kumar Arya and advocate Kapil Dhaka had moved the bail petition.
The counsels apprised the court that the two co-accused have been granted default bail by the High court. He is also entitled to a default bail as the charge sheet was not filed within the period of 60 days.
During the hearing in the High court Advocate Pradeep Kumar Arya submitted that it is a case of section 304 A (Death due to negligent act) of IPC.
Despite this, Delhi police have invoked section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), Arya submitted.
He argued and referred to the case of Union Carbide in which 1000 people died. Finally, the supreme court held that it was a case of section 304 A of IPC only.
The petitioner had moved an application seeking bail over the non-filing of the charge sheet in the case. His plea was dismissed by the Magistrate Court on August 6, 2022.
This case pertains to a fire incident in the Mundaka area on May 13 in which 27 people were killed. An FIR was registered on May 14, 2022, was registered under sections 308/304/120B/34 IPC, at Police Station, Mundka.
The magistrate court had granted bail to the wife Sunita Lakra and mother Sushila Lakra. They were summoned by the court after taking cognisance of the charge sheet. They were named as accused in the charge sheet but had not been arrested during the investigation.
