Kamala Mills fire: Son of ex-IPS officer arrested

Hours after the Mumbai police and fire brigade differed on the origin of fire at Kamala Mills compound, the owner of Mojo's Bistro was arrested and booked for culpable homicide.

The owner, Yug Pathak, is the son of former Director General of Police K K Pathak, who had in the past served as Commissioner of Police in Pune and Nagpur cities.

The two ill-fated fine dining joints engulfed by the fire 1 Above and Mojo's - have been blaming each other for the fire at the Trade Tower in the Kamala Mills compound at Lower Parel, in which 14 people, including 11 women, were killed.

Mojo's Bistro is owned by Tirupati Restaurants and Cafe Pvt Ltd, in which the main partners are Yug Pathak and Nagpur-based businessman Yug Tuli.

1 Above is owned by Sigrid Ospitalita and Entertainment, LLP. Kripesh Sanghvi, Jigar Sanghvi and Abhijeet Mankar are the three partners of the company. It was run by C Grade Hospitality.

The Sanghvi brothers and Mankar have been absconding since the fire mishap. However, two managers, Kevin Bawa and Libson Lopez, have been arrested and remanded to police custody.

Earlier, the N M Joshi Marg police station had blamed the 1 Above restaurant for the origin of fire, based on mobile videos and statements of witnesses.

The Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) on Friday, in its preliminary findings, suggested that the fire emanated from Mojo's because of flying embers from hookahs or fanning of charcoal-fired ovens.

Conflicting versions

On the conflicting versions, Mayor Prof Vishwanath Mahadeshwar said that the report submitted by MFB would be studied by BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation. "This is not the final report, we will study every aspect of it," he said.

"There is no contradiction. We can't comment on the findings of MFB. Since, they have opinied fire started from Mojo's, we have included the names of the concerned as accused. Action would be taken soon," Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Deven Bharti said.

DH News Service