New Delhi, 03 November (H.S.): A Saket court in Delhi has extended the judicial custody of Jai Mishra, the hotel manager accused in the Malviya Nagar fire case, until November 17. Principal District and Sessions Judge Sanjeev Kumar Agarwal also directed that the matter concerning the framing of charges be taken up for hearing on December 4.

During Tuesday's hearing, Lovkesh Bajaj did not appear before the court. His counsel, Preeti Yadav, informed the court that the Delhi High Court had granted him interim bail until December 18 on medical grounds and that he was unwell. She sought exemption from his appearance for the day, which the court allowed.

Inspector Subhash Yadav, the investigating officer in the case, informed the court that the viscera report had been received, but the data from the digital video recorder (DVR) was still awaited. The forensic report had also not been received.

The court directed the investigating officer to make efforts to obtain the forensic report at the earliest, observing that accused Jai Mishra was still in custody and that the report was required for further proceedings. The court scheduled the hearing on the framing of charges for December 4.

On September 22, the Delhi High Court had granted hotel owner Lovkesh Bajaj four weeks of interim bail on medical grounds. Earlier, on July 27, the Saket court had granted bail to Kesar Negi. Delhi Police filed the chargesheet in the case on September 1. On September 3, the Saket court took cognisance of the chargesheet filed against Lovkesh Bajaj, hotel manager Jai Mishra and cook Kesar Negi.

The incident occurred on the morning of June 3, when a massive fire broke out at a hotel in Malviya Nagar at around 8 am. In the tragic incident, 22 people trapped in the basement died after being engulfed by smoke and flames, while several others sustained injuries. Most of the deceased were foreign nationals. Several police personnel were also injured after being exposed to the fire and smoke during the rescue operation.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar