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Anticipatory bail plea of Levana Hospitalities director rejected
After the fire incident on September 5, FIR was lodged against owners of Levana Suites –Rahul Agarwal, Rohit Agarwal, general manager Sagar Srivastava and Levana Hospitalities director Pawan Agarwal
LUCKNOW District and sessions judge Sanjay Shankar Pandey on Wednesday rejected the anticipatory bail application of Pawan Agarwal, director of Levana Hospitalities, which owns Levana Suites, where a fire incident claimed four lives on September 5.
The judge took serious note of the no-objection certificates (NoCs) issued by the electricity and fire departments to the hotel despite gross irregularities and shortcomings. He also took note of the Lucknow Development Authority’s report that the hotel was constructed illegally on a residential plot.
District government counsel (DGC) Manoj Tripathi, who represented the state government, opposed the bail application during hearing of the case. He listed out irregularities in the hotel and lack of safety measures.
“It is strange that on one hand NoC was issued conditionally, and surprisingly despite lapse of more than nine months, authorities did not take appropriate action against Levana Suites for not adhering to the guidelines regarding safety measures for electricity and fire,” said the court.
The court also made an observation on the investigation officer of the case for failing to fix responsibility of the incident on officials of various departments who looked the other way despite knowing the shortcomings and irregularities in the hotel.
The court observed that iron grills were installed on windows of the hotel, which blocked exit through them.
Rejecting the anticipatory bail, the court said: “Prime facie, it is the case wherein the incident resulted in death of four innocent persons and more than seven people got injured. Accused/applicant is the director of the said hotel (Levana Suites). Accordingly, in the given circumstances, no case is made out for anticipatory bail.”
After the fire incident on September 5, FIR was lodged against owners of Levana Suites –Rahul Agarwal, Rohit Agarwal, general manager Sagar Srivastava and Levana Hospitalities director Pawan Agarwal, at the Hazratganj police station.
