Hauz Rani Fire: Court Denies Bail to Cook, Remands Owner & Manager to Police Custody

New Delhi: A court on Monday dismissed the bail plea of Keshav Negi, the cook of the Hauz Rani bed and breakfast, and sent him to 14 days' judicial custody.“Considering that the investigation is at an initial stage and there are serious allegations... of an offence punishable with the imprisonment for life, this court isn’t inclined to grant bail,” Bhanu Pratap Singh, judicial magistrate first class, said.The prosecution has alleged “negligence” by Negi. It said the fire started while he was present in the basement kitchen of the B&B and he failed to take adequate steps to contain it.Negi’s counsel, advocate Deepak Prakash, contested this claim and argued that his client was being made a scapegoat for failures and violations that are attributable to the proprietors.He said the rapid spread of the fire is itself “attributed in the reasons of arrest”. But the blame for the lack of compliance “squarely lay with the owner and management”. The fact that rubber pipes connected to LPG cylinders had melted and leaked raises a question on the choice of piping, he pointed out, adding that the placement of cylinders, the absence of extinguishers, alarms, sprinklers, emergency exits and a valid fire NOC, were all in the "exclusive domain of the hotel’s owners and management”.He said that Negi informed the hotel manager, Rupesh, who is absconding, and exhausted all the available fire extinguishers. The court granted two days' police custody of owner Lovkesh Bajaj and manager Jay Mishra, who surrendered.Regarding Mishra, it said that “he was working as an accountant and was actively associated with the affairs and functioning of the establishment.”