Defendant in hotel fire case leaves country
On January 16, 19-year-old Corinth native and Mississippi University for Women freshman Jaslynn McGee along with three other students died in a Hoover, Ala., Days Inn hotel fire.
Months later, several wrongful death suits have been filed by family members seeking closure. However, The Commercial Dispatch in Columbus has reported that the co-defendant in the case has disappeared.
Dhirajlal Bhagat, the man who apparently started the fire, has returned to his home in India. Bhagat was facing not only wrongful death suits, but also deportation. Investigators believe Bhagat, who worked as a house keeper at the hotel, inadvertently started the fire when he left incense burning in the room he was living in. Bhagat’s room was right below the room McGee and her friends were staying in.
Source: The Commercial Dispatch and The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal