A Kolkata court on Thursday denied bail and extended till January 19 the judicial custody of six directors and two officials of the AMRI Hospitals here. They were arrested after a massive fire in the hospital on December 9 last claimed several lives.
The Chief Judicial Magistrate of the Alipore Court ruled that considering the “gravity and magnitude of the case” he was not inclined to give bail to the accused. He noted that investigation into the matter was still at the nascent stage.
‘No substantial evidence'
Earlier in the day, defence counsels for the eight accused argued that the prosecution was not able to produce any substantial evidence to show that the case attracted provisions of any non-bailable offences.
Defence counsels also submitted that there was no possibility of the accused fleeing the city on getting bail, as they were permanent residents of the city and had a number businesses operating here.
Praying for bail, counsel cited several grounds, including health. They argued that the prosecution was being discriminatory as two other directors of the hospital, who were government officials, were not arrested.
Counsels for State said that as the directors were influential people there was always the likelihood of evidence being tampered with or witnesses influenced.
They said the accused should be available for round-the-clock interrogation, and urged the court to deny bail.
The court, after hearing both the parties, ordered the extension of their judicial custody for 14 days.
Look-out notices
Other than the six directors behind bars, R.S. Agarwal, another hospital director — also an accused in the case — is under arrest and presently admitted in a city hospital.
The police have issued look-out notices for three other directors. They have been evading arrest since the fire.
