‘Implicated by Delhi Police in over-enthusiasm: Court grants bail to businessman arrested in basement flooding deaths case

A sessions court granted him bail on Thursday, a day after the Magistrate Court in Tis Hazari denied him bail. The Delhi Police told the sessions court that they have decided to drop the harsher charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against Kathuria (section 105 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita or BNS).

In its reply to the bail plea, police said that the main offence against Kathuria was “rash driving on a public way” (Section 281 of the BNS).

“In view of the submissions made by the State through their reply, since offence under Section 105 of BNS, 2023, which is non-bailable, is not made out at this stage, the rest of the Sections are bailable in nature,” said Additional Sessions Judge Rakesh Kumar of Tis Hazari Court while granting Kathuria bail.

This comes a day after the Delhi High Court pulled up the Delhi Police for its “strange probe” after they arrested the driver of the vehicle and not any Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) official.

The businessman had argued in a Delhi court on Tuesday that civic authorities were the real culprits behind the incident. Advocate Rakesh Malhotra, representing him, said it isn’t possible to drive a car at a high speed in a waterlogged area and the speed of the vehicle was just 15 km per hour. “How would I have known that my car would produce such momentum that kids inside would drown because of the gate collapsing?” he said.
Apart from Kathuria, co-owners of the building’s basement — brothers Parvinder Singh, Harvinder Singh, Sarabjit Singh and Tajinder Singh — were also arrested in the case. All four co-owners are in judicial custody till August 12 and have moved a fresh bail plea before a sessions court after their bail was denied by the Magistrate Court.

On Sunday, RAU’s CEO Abhishek Gupta and coordinator Deshpal Singh were arrested and subsequently sent to judicial custody for two weeks.