KARACHI: A district and sessions court on Saturday extended the interim pre-arrest bail of the owners of a Korangi factory, its building and a supervisor in a case pertaining to the death of 16 workers in a fire in the industrial unit last month.

The fire allegedly caused by an electric short-circuit engulfed the industrial unit, M/s BM Luggage, in Mehran Town on Aug 27 killing the 16 workers.

Police had booked factory owner Hassan Meetha alias Ali Meetha, building owner Faisal Tariq, its three supervisors Syed Imran Ali Zaidi, Zafar and Rehan and watchman Syed Zarin over their alleged involvement in the manslaughter case.

On Aug 30, the owners of the factory and its building and supervisor Zaidi had obtained interim pre-arrest bail from the district and sessions judge (East) against a surety of Rs500,000 each.

On Saturday, they moved applications asking the court to confirm their interim pre-arrest bail.

During the hearing, the state prosecutor opposed the pleas for confirmation of interim bail of the suspects arguing that Mr Meetha was running a commercial business in a residential area without obtaining permission from any relevant government authorities.

However, the judge asked whether the government was in slumber when a commercial activity was allegedly being carried out in the residential area. The court questioned as to what action the government had taken against the suspects if such an activity was being carried out.

Defence counsel Haseeb Jamali said his client Tariq had only rented out the building where Mr Meetha was running his business, thus he could not be held responsible for the incident.

Mr Meetha’s lawyer Hasan Sabir argued that the incident was being wrongly compared to the Sept 2012 Baldia factory fire in which 260 workers were burnt alive.

“In the present case, neither the exits of the factory were locked nor the chemical kept in the factory [ignited] the fire,” the counsel maintained.

The counsel said Mr Meetha had got the house from its owner in 2019 when he had relocated his business from Dubai.

He claimed that the building was located in an industrial zone, where hundreds of industrial units were also being run.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the judge extended the interim bail of the suspects till Sept 7. In the meanwhile, the judge directed the investigating officer to submit relevant record of the case on the next date.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2021