AMRI fire: charges framed against 16 accused

Charges against the 16 accused directors and officials of AMRI Hospitals here were framed today under Section 304(2) of IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) for a fire that left 92 people dead in December 2011, paving the way for start of trial.
Among the accused were the then hospital directors Shravan Kumar Todi, Radhey Shyam Goenka, Radhey Shyam Agarwal, Ravi Todi, Manish Goenka, Prashant Goenka, Aditya Agarwal, Priti Sureka and Rahul Todi, besides, doctor-directors Mani Chhetri and Pronab Dasgupta and Executive Director Dayanand Agarwal.
Apart from Section 304(2), charges against the 16 accused were also framed under Section 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) and Section 36 (effect caused partly by act and partly by omission) of IPC, at the court of Additional District and Sessions judge Indranil Adhikary.

All the accused, except Preeta Banerjee, Sajid Hossain and Sanjib Pal, were also charged under relevant sections of Bengal Fire Services Act, the court said.
The court has fixed September 5 as the next date of hearing when the trial would start.