Owners of Kamala Mills Compound discharged in 2017 fire case

A court here on Tuesday discharged two owners of Kamala Mills Compound, who were booked in connection with the fire at a pub in the premises in 2017, which led to the death of 14 people.

The court, however, rejected the discharge pleas of owners of the pub and restaurant, BMC officials and other accused, who will face charges under relevant sections of the IPC and Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Act.

A blaze had erupted at 1Above restaurant and Mojo's Bistro pub located in Kamala Mills Compound on December 29, 2017, in which 14 persons were killed and several others were injured.

The police had booked 14 people in the case, including owners and employees of the establishments, BMC officials, owners of the compound.

The court discharged owners of the compound Ramesh Gowani and Ravi Bhandari, the special public prosecutor Prakash Shetty said.

The duo had claimed that they cannot be booked for the fire, as they had no connection to it.

Apart from them, two managers of 1Above, hotelier Vishal Kariya, owners of 1Above Kripesh Mansukh Sanghavi, Jigar Mansukh Sanghavi, owner of Mojo's Bistro pub Yug Ravindrapal Singh Tuli and fire officer Rajendra Baban Patil had also filed discharge pleas.

The accused had challenged that charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and others were not applicable in the case, as they had no intention of causing death.

However, the prosecution had argued that the accused had failed to abide by the law, and there were several irregularities in their fire safety system, which led to the loss of lives.