Delhi fire: Court sends property owner, manager to 14-day police custody

A Delhi court on Monday (December 9) sent to 14-days police custody the property owner and manager of the four-storey building housing illegal manufacturing units in north Delhi’s congested Anaj Mandi area where at least 43 people were killed in a massive fire on Sunday.

Metropolitan Magistrate Manoj Kumar sent Rehan and Furkan to the custody after the police had sought their 14-day custodial interrogation. Police had arrested the two and registered the case under sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 285 (negligent conduct with respect to fire) of the IPC. The case was transferred to the Crime Branch.

The Delhi government had ordered a magisterial probe into the tragedy, the worst fire accident in the national capital since the 1997 Uphaar cinema blaze that claimed 59 lives, and sought a report within seven days.