Vijayawada fire case: Jagan govt all set to move SC

Hyderabad: The Jagan government on Wednesday decided to move the Supreme Court on orders of the High Court over the Vijayawada fire accident, which has claimed 10 lives and left 20 injured. Previously, Andhra High Court stayed further proceedings against Ramesh Hospitals’ Managing Director Ramesh Babu and Chairman Seeta Rama Rao.

 The duo, who have been absconding, are accused of the fire accident. Within days, the duo moved the High Court seeking that the cases registered against them be quashed. Hearing the petition by Ramesh Babu, the HC had questioned the role of the Collector, Sub-Collector and District Medical and Health Officer (DMHO) in the incident.

The Bench observed that the officials should also be held accountable, as they were the ones who granted permission to the hospital to use the centre for treatment, and stayed further action against the hospital authorities.

The SIT is under the opinion that Ramesh Babu should be questioned in order to spill the beans of this entire episode. Of late, a fire accident in the Covid-19 facility of Vijayawada has become sensational across the nation and created political ripples in the state of Andhra Pradesh. It has become a subject of a slugfest between the ruling and opposition parties. A caste angle has also come into the light.

 Police are investigating the incident. Several people have been questioned in the case while the hospital founder MD Ramesh Babu has been in exile ever since.

Several YSRCP leaders alleged that Chandrababu Naidu is giving asylum to Dr. Ramesh Babu in his home and questioned why the leader of the opposition has not demanded a CBI inquiry as they did in the Visakhapatnam LG polymers case.