Kamala Mills tragedy: 1Above owners arrested after 12 days
Twelve days after a fire in Mumbai's Kamala Mills killed 14, the three owners of 1Above pub, where the mishap happened, have been arrested. Earlier, managers Kevin Bava and Lisbon Lopez were held and questioned why no safety measures were implemented. Yug Pathak, co-owner of Mojo's Bistro where the fire broke out, is already in jail. His partner Yug Tuli is on the run.
The Kamala Mills tragedy
On December 29, a massive fire at a rooftop restaurant in Kamala Mills left 14 dead and several injured. Many victims were attending the birthday party of a 28-year-old woman, who also died. The fire reportedly began at 1Above shortly after 12:30am and then spread to the Mojo and London Taxi Gastro Pub. Around 150 people were in the building at the time.
Both pubs were found to have violated several safety norms
Initially, the blaze was suspected to have erupted at 1Above, but a report found it was caused by "burning/lighted embers" from the charcoal used for hookahs at Mojo's. Both pubs were found to be in violation of safety norms. Both used combustible material for decoration. Both stocked combustible items. There were no adequate fire exits. Neither had proper permission for operations.
Statements of 70 witnesses recorded
Cops had earlier arrested hotelier Vishal Kariya for sheltering the 1Above owners. After obtaining information from him and tracking their cellphones, they arrested brothers Kripesh and Jigar Sanghvi from a Bandra hotel. The third owner, Abhijeet Mankar, was arrested hours later. They have been booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and other offences. Till now, police have recorded statements of 70 witnesses.
