Bawana fire: Owner, co-owner remanded in judicial custody so that they don’t ‘tamper with evidence’

The owners of a firecracker storage unit in North West Delhi’s Bawana industrial area, where 17 people were recently killed in a massive blaze, were sent to 14-day judicial custody by a Delhi court.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Gagandeep Singh sent Manoj Jain and Lalit Goyal, owner and co-owner respectively of the factory, to Tihar Jail till February 13 after the police sought the same step to prevent them from tampering with evidence.

“Both accused produced from police remand along with their counsel. Heard. File perused. Both accused be remanded to judicial custody till February 13,” the magistrate said.

During the hearing, the police sought that the accused be sent to judicial custody so that they do not commit any further offence.

“The accused be sent to judicial custody to prevent them from causing the evidence to disappear or tampering with such evidence in any manner,” the police said.

Jain was arrested on January 21 and Goyal on January 27 and sent to police custody. Both were produced before the court today on expiry of their police custody.

Meanwhile, advocate Rishipal Singh, representing a few victims of the tragedy, moved an application seeking an independent probe into the matter …read more