Kamala Mills co-owner withdraws plea against arrest from SC

A co-owner of Mumbai's Kamala Mills on Tuesday withdrew from the Supreme Court the plea against his arrest in the case related to the fire tragedy that claimed 14 lives in December last year. Ravi Surajmal Bhandari withdrew his habeas corpus petition after a bench of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan asked him to approach the trial court to seek bail.

A habeas corpus petition is a writ requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a court. Bhandari had claimed in his plea that he cannot be held liable for the fire tragedy and had termed his arrest "illegal detention". The apex court, on the last date of hearing, had asked how a habeas corpus can be filed when the person is in judicial custody.

Kamala Mills is a huge commercial complex in central Mumbai and houses more than 50 restaurants and hundreds of corporate offices. Bhandari was arrested in January along with fire officer Rajendra Patil and Utkarsh Pandey, who supplied 'hookahs' to the pubs Mojo's Bistro and 1 Above where the fire started. All three are in judicial custody. Fourteen persons were killed and several others injured when a fire broke out at the two pubs in the Kamala Mills compound in central Mumbai on December 29, 2017.

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