File photo of the under-construction godown which collapsed, at Taratala, in Kolkata………Subhojyoti Kanjilal
“We moved a bail petition before the district judge in Alipore on Sept 28. Sheikh was arrested on Sept 12. He was first remanded to four days’ police custody and then to judicial custody for 14 days. When the matter came up for hearing again on Sept 30, the chief judicial magistrate’s court sent him and six other accused to judicial custody for 14 more days, said Thakurata. “We had, however, moved a bail petition on Sept 28 before a higher court, the court of the district judge.
Kolkata: Aminur Sheikh, sub-assistant engineer of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, who was arrested for “negligence” in connection with the collapse of an under-construction warehouse in Taratala police station area, was granted bail on Saturday. One of the lawyers who appeared for Sheikh (28) said police could not show any “seizure” that could point to the engineer’s alleged negligence. He is the first one to obtain bail, said Saikat Thakurata, a lawyer who appeared for Sheikh. Police arrested him on charges of negligence but could not show any seizure that showed his responsibility in overseeing the construction,” said Thakurata. The higher court granted him bail,” said Thakurata.
Sheikh is one of the seven accused persons arrested in the case. The engineer’s arrest led to unrest among the civic body’s sub-assistant engineers across departments. These engineers from different boroughs gathered at KMC headquarters and demonstrated against the civic body’s inaction in offering legal protection to the arrested engineer who, they alleged, had been made a scapegoat. The protests continued for several days. Kaushik Gupta, Raghunath Chakraborty, Dutimala Bagchi and Nandini Chatterjee also pleaded for Sheikh in court.
The petition came up for hearing on Saturday.