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Court rejects plea of Meerut fire accused

Seeking 15 days to surrender

MEERUT: A special court on Tuesday rejected the plea of the organisers of the Brand India consumer goods show at Victoria Park here that was gutted in a fire last Monday seeking 15 days' time to surrender.

Special Chief Judicial Magistrate Alpana dismissed the application filed on behalf of Lakhan Tomar and Ashit Gupta wanted in connection with last week's inferno that resulted in loss of life and property.

Tomar, Gupta and another convenor of the fair Siddharth Malhotra are some of those named in an FIR after preliminary inquiries found that the fire was caused by a short circuit and alleged negligence. They had prayed for 15 days' time to surrender in the case.

CJM Rajesh Kumar recorded the statement of Manoj Saxena, who has filed a complaint against 11 persons, including the three and some senior officials of the district, and fixed April 21 for orders.

The charges relate to public servants disobeying the law, endangering life and safety, criminal conspiracy, furnishing false information, causing grievious hurt, murder and culpable homicide among others.

The compensation to the victims of the tragedy has meanwhile been doubled.

The ex-gratia had been increased to Rs 2 lakh to the families of those killed, Rs one lakh for the seriously injured, Rs 50,000 for those with minor injuries and till now an amount of Rs 2.21 crore had been disbursed, Divisional Commissioner Mohinder Singh said today.

Petition to stay arrest

The organisers of the Meerut fair, where a devastating fire claimed around 50 lives, today filed a writ petition in the Allahabad High Court seeking a stay on their arrest.

The petition has been filed by one Manohar and two others, who have sought a stay on their arrest in the wake of an FIR lodged in Meerut, whereby their alleged negligence has been blamed for the fire.- PTI

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