Panaji: A Mapusa court on Friday granted bail to Birch by Romeo Lane corporate manager Rajiv Modak and operations manager Bijay Kumar Singh in connection with the Dec 6 fire incident.They are the last of the accused to be released on bail in the fire case where 25 people lost their lives, triggering widespread concern over safety violations.Modak was arrested on Dec 7 and was in custody for more than four months, while Singh was arrested on Jan 6 and was in custody for more than three months.The prosecution objected to the grant of bail to the two managers, highlighting the severity of punishment and the gravity of the offence, and stated that they are in a position to influence the employees and other witnesses.The accused’s lawyers, K Viegas and Rohan Dessai, argued that co-accused Ajay Gupta, Saurabh Luthra and Gaurav Luthra have been released on bail, as well as Priyanshu Thakur, Rajveer Singhania, Vivek Singh, Roshan Redkar and Raghuvir Bagkar.The Luthra brothers were released on bail on April 8. The court, granting bail to the two managers, said it has to balance the interest of society with the fundamental right to personal liberty and added that their prolonged incarceration without the likelihood of an early conclusion of the trial would amount to pre-trial punishment, especially in a case of this scale.
