Kamala mills co-owner allowed to withdraw plea

Mumbai: The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed a co-owner of Kamala Mills to withdraw his petition challenging his arrest in the case related to the fire tragedy in the building complex that had claimed 14 lives last December.

The SC granted liberty to Ravi Bhandari to approach the trial court for bail. During the hearing, the bench of Justices A.K. Sikri and Ashok Bhushan asked senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for Bhandari, how can the habeas corpus petition filed by him be entertained when he is in lawful custody.

A habeas corpus petition is a writ requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a court. Mr Divan cited an earlier verdict of the apex court and said even if he was arrested, a habeas corpus petition can be filed saying it was an illegal detention by the police. “I am the owner of Kamala Mills complex which is spread on 20 acres and has 40 restaurants and over 100 offices. I was arrested because I had signed the lease agreement with the restaurants allowing them to operate,” he said.

When the bench asked Mr Divan what the cause of the fire was, he said it was found that some items had caught fire at the restaurant and people had rushed to the bathroom to save themselves, which in turn resulted in their death due to asphyxiation.