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The Alipore sessions court on Tuesday extended the stay on the execution of proclamation notices against AMRI Hospitals directors Rahul Todi, Preeti Sureka and Aditya Agarwal till March 20.
Arrest warrants against Aditya and Preeti, the children of R.S. Agarwal, and Rahul, the son of S.K. Todi, and other directors had been issued on the evening of December 9, after a fire that broke out at the basement of the Dhakuria hospital had claimed 91 lives.
Even as nine directors were arrested, the trio went absconding and the state appealed before the court of the Alipore chief judicial magistrate to declare them proclaimed offenders. The court had issued proclamation notices against these three directors on January 5.
According to the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), the judiciary cannot publish a proclamation notice — meant to make the public aware that the person is a proclaimed offender — before 60 days of an arrest warrant being issued.
In this case, however, the chief judicial magistrate’s court had issued proclamation notices against the trio even before the completion of a month of the warrant.
As a result, when the defence lawyers moved the sessions court seeking for a stay order, the judge had stayed it till February 20.
“Since the court was closed on Monday, eighth additional district judge Asit Dey heard our appeal on Tuesday and extended the stay order till March 20,” said defence lawyer Salim Rahman.
Rahman added that the court of the third additional district judge would hear the trio’s anticipatory bail prayer on February 29.
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