VIJAYAWADA: The High Court of Andhra Pradesh on Friday granted bail to three employees of Ramesh Hospitals — Dr K Rajagopal Rao (chief operating officer), Dr K Sudharshan (general manager), and P Venkatesh (Covid Care Centre coordinating manager) — who were arrested in connection with the fire at the Swarna Palace Covid Care Centre (CCC) that killed 10 patients.
Dealing with the bail petition filed by the trio, Justice K Lalitha issued the order granting them bail. The petitioners’ counsel D Srinivas had argued that the three accused persons were in no way connected with the fire. He said the police arrested them simply because they were employees of the hospital. The trio approached the High Court after a lower court refused to grant them bail.
Objecting to their bail petition, public prosecutor Srinivas Reddy argued that the CCC was run without an NOC from the fire services department, and the investigation in the case is still underway. However, the court set aside his argument, granted them bail, and told them to cooperate with the investigation.