Thane, May 7: The counsel of half a dozen persons, including Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) officials, arrested for the last month's building crash here, today pleaded before a court for grant of bail to their clients.
Seventy four people were killed when a seven-storey unauthorised building in Shil-Phata area of the city collapsed in early April. Nearly two dozen persons, including civic officials and builders, have been arrested for the crash.
The builders, in connivance with others, had allegedly bribed the corporation officials to turn a blind eye to the construction.
Sailesh Sadekar, counsel for arrested Deputy Municipal Commissioner Deepak Chavan, told Special Court Judge K R Warrier, that his client's job responsibility did not include demolition of unauthorised constructions.
Sadekar told the court last week the prosecution came out with a statement that the illegal building was served a notice two days before the crash.
Not Chavan but the officer who served the notice to the ill-fated building was responsible for demolition. Hence, Chavan cannot be held responsible for the lapse, he said.
Quoting the argument that bail is the right while jail is an exception, he requested the court to consider the bail application in this context, Sadekar said.
He said Chavan has been booked under an IPC section which does not attract death sentence or life imprisonment. Bail should be granted to the Deputy Municipal Commissioner who has already spent more than one month in custody.
Sadekar also pleaded for bail for his another client, Shyam Thorbole, Assistant Municipal Commissioner. He pointed out that Thorbole had been suspended by the Corporation on January 24, 2013.
According to the prosecution, the construction of the building started on February 1, 2013 and the seventh floor was completed on March 31, 2013.
Therefore, Thorbole cannot be linked to the building, he said and pressed for bail to him.
Lawyers of other accused - Ramesh Inamdar (a civil engineer), Subhash Waghmare (TMC clerk), Jehangir Sayeed (Police Constable), Ramdas Burud (driver of Chavan) - also made submissions on bail pleas of their clients.
Meanwhile, Hadiullah Khan Matumullah Khan, a builder filed an anticipatory bail in the court in connection with the building crash case.
