A Delhi court on Wednesday sent Manoj Jain, owner of the firecracker storage unit in Bawana, to five days’ police custody in the January 20 fire case in which 17 persons had lost their lives. The police had arrested Mr. Jain on Sunday.
Further investigation
Metropolitan Magistrate Jitender Pratap Singh allowed the police plea to take the accused into custody for further investigation and to arrest co-accused Lalit Goyal.
Earlier, the investigating officer submitted that the accused was running the factory without any licence, and the explosives which caused the fire had been brought from Mathura and other places.
The police are investigating the source of the explosives, allegedly brought without permission. They are also probing the previous involvement of the accused, if any, as he had been changing his factory premises frequently.
Opposing the police plea, counsel for the accused said the police did not require his 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 fine.
Besides, the Explosives Act has also been invoked against the accused. Of the 17 killed, 10 were women.
