After MLA’s plaint, three booked in Jariwala case

Surat: City police finally took action on the Kunal Jariwala death case and booked three persons in Lalgate police station area for death by negligence. The police action comes in the wake of Surat East MLA Arvind Rana raising the issue in the MLA-Police coordination meeting held on Friday. Jariwala had died on June 16 in Saiyedpura area after he was hit by metal sheet and construction debris falling off a building while he was on his way through the area. According to FIR filed by Lalgate police late on Monday, Al-Kadri flat no 501 (Property no. 12/2640) from where the metal sheet and debris fell on Jariwala was occupied by Junaid Abdul Gafar Nathani and owned by Rashida Abdul Gafar Nathani and Alpa Naimesh Jagtap. Surat Municipal Corporation gave them notices for illegal construction taking place on sixth floor. Police have booked all three under IPC 304A, 427 and 114. In the past, the SMC had removed some parts of the illegal construction after which the accused once again started illegal construction. Even after knowing that metal sheet and construction debris kept on the sixth floor posed risk to human life, the accused did not bother to shift these elsewhere. On June 16, when Jariwala was passing through the building, the material fell on him from the sixth floor, proving deadly for Jariwala who was killed on the spot. After the incident, the police registered a case of accidental death. However, family and friends of the deceased took to the streets demanding justice the next day. Even after three weeks elapsed, cops did not file an FIR in the incident. The protestors talked to the local MLA Arvind Rana who raised the issue in the coordination meeting. “Police had registered a routine accidental death assuring family of adding sections under IPC after investigation. As the FIR was not filed by Lalgate police, I raised the issue in coordination meeting with police commissioner. Finally, the FIR was registered. We hope that family will get justice in this case,” Rana told TOI.