A sessions court in Dindoshi last Friday rejected the bail application of the owner of the building that collapsed Malad's Malvani area in June, killing 11 persons and injuring another seven.
In its detailed order denying bail to 46-year-old Mohammad Rafique Siddiqui, the court said that the owner used low-grade material for constructing the building, as a consequence of which, it collapsed within eight years.
“It appears that the building was constructed without the permission of the competent authority. The applicant being the owner of the building used low-grade material for carrying out the construction. Consequently, the building collapsed within eight years,” the court said.
Additional Sessions Judge LS Chavan added in his order that the accused had knowledge that his act is likely to cause death or bodily harm to any person. “Despite having knowledge about the consequences, Siddiqui used low-grade material which killed eleven people residing in the building expired and left seven injured,” Judge Chavan said.
The court said that it is clear that there is negligence on part of the owner as well as his co-accused in respect of the construction of the building and that the offence is serious in nature. If he is released on bail, there is a possibility that he may tamper with prosecution evidence and flee from justice.
The Malvani resident had sought bail claiming that he was falsely implicated. However, the prosecution had opposed relief to him pointing out the number of fatalities due to the incident.
The Malvani police had booked Siddiqui and the building’s contractor Ramzan Shaikh on the charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and causing grievous hurt by negligent act endangering life or personal safety of others among other offences.
