Hotel City Kinara manager in police custody till Oct 26

MUMBAI: The Vinobha Bhave Nagar police on Tuesday invoked the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against Sharad Tripathi (55), the manager of hotel City Kinara, while seeking his custody. Tripathi, who was arrested on Monday, was produced before the Kurla metropolitan magistrate on Tuesday and remanded to police custody till October 26.
Tripathi was charged under IPC section 304(ii), of having knowledge that his actions could cause somebody’s death. Advocate Shabnam Latiwala, who was representing the victims, argued that Tripathi knew the illegal kitchen on the mezzanine floor was dangerous and there was no escape route and no fire extinguisher. “His role is very important. He had knowledge that it was a death trap yet he ran his business and instead of helping the victims, he fled from the scene which led to the death of eight persons,” said Latiwala. He also appealed for addition of IPC section 36 instead of section 34, which makes both a direct action or an omission, when both exist in parts in the commission of an offence, to be equally responsible for that offence. Section 34 of the IPC deals with the ‘common intention’ of all accused. “I know lost lives will not come back but how are their kin to live with this memory? To run an eatery one requires permissions from the BMC and the police. I want to ask whether these officials visited and inspected the place before giving the hotelier various permissions. Hence I say the collusion of the officials—through their acts of omissions—can’t be ruled out.”
In a corner of the court stood Atah Ur Rahman, who had lost his son Sajid Choudhary in the fire. The 55-year-old man had come to the courtroom see the person who was responsible for his youngest son’s death. “I am a labourer and do odd jobs. I had a lot of hopes from my younger son Sajid, who had scored 83% in his SSC and also got good marks in the CET exams, which got him admission to Don Bosco,” he said. Rahman said he was not in a position to pay the fees of Rs 1.10 lakh for admission to the institute, but Sajid, the youngest of his four sons, had managed to get a fee concession. Rahman said the entire family had pinned its hopes on Sajid making it big one day. “All my dreams have now been shattered,” said the sobbing father.
Tripathi’s lawyer argued that section 304(ii) of culpable homicide was not applicable as it was purely an accident. He said, “Whatever happened was beyond my client’s control. The children who died in the fire were regular clients why would he intend to cause harm to them.”
Police said they may add more sections in the case once the Forensic Science Laboratory gives the chemical analysis report and after they are able to ascertain from the BMC that the accused had made structural changes. Tripathi, who has run the hotel from 2010, has claimed that he didn’t make any structural changes after taking it on lease from owner Sudesh Hegde. Hegde, who is based in Mangalore, is yet to arrive in Mumbai. “If we find there were illegal structural changes then we may book Hegde and BMC officials who connived with him,” said an officer.