A total of 22 people, including 13 foreigners, were killed in Malviya Nagar’s Hauz Rani area last week in a fire incident at Flourish Stays B&B.
Besides hotel owner Lovkesh Bajaj, cook Negi was arrested over allegations of negligence.
However, Negi in his plea before the South district court alleged that he was being made a scapegoat for systemic safety failures and statutory violations of the proprietors of the property.
The plea stated he was a salaried chef at the hotel with no control over its fire-safety infrastructure.
“The rapid spread of the fire is itself attributed in the Reasons of Arrest to LPG cylinders connected by rubber pipes that melted and leaked yet the choice of such piping, the placement of the cylinders, and the absence of extinguishers, alarms, sprinklers, emergency exits and a valid fire NOC lie squarely within the exclusive domain of the hotel’s owners and management,” the petition said.
A total of 22 people, including 13 foreigners, were killed in Malviya Nagar’s Hauz Rani area last week in a fire incident at Flourish Stays B&B. Besides hotel owner Lovkesh Bajaj, cook Negi was arrested over allegations of negligence.
However, Negi in his plea before the South district court alleged that he was being made a scapegoat for systemic safety failures and statutory violations of the proprietors of the property. The plea stated he was a salaried chef at the hotel with no control over its fire-safety infrastructure.
“The rapid spread of the fire is itself attributed in the Reasons of Arrest to LPG cylinders connected by rubber pipes that melted and leaked yet the choice of such piping, the placement of the cylinders, and the absence of extinguishers, alarms, sprinklers, emergency exits and a valid fire NOC lie squarely within the exclusive domain of the hotel’s owners and management,” the petition said.
